


Between the Candle and the Star

by MemoryDragon



Series: Binary Stars [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic, Lots of OCs - Freeform, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Skrulls - Freeform, Teenager Fic, Well - Freeform, holograms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-24 22:53:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14963756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MemoryDragon/pseuds/MemoryDragon
Summary: Now that he had Tony back, he and Steve have to help the fledgling heroes sort themselves out.  Adopting three scarred and battered teenagers was never going to beeasy, but as long as he had his husband, they could make it through this.Couldn't they?





	Between the Candle and the Star

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** I do not own the Avengers movie-verse, nor do I make any claim to. Also, this verse continues to steal a lot of things from Babylon 5, but absolutely no knowledge about B5 is necessary to read this.  
>  **Warnings:** PTSD and lots of OCs. Also, spoilers for Binary Stars, so you might want to read that one first.  
>  **Thanks:** Many thanks as always to narwhale_callin, who got this back to me with record-breaking speed. XD Also many thanks to mushroomhobbit for reccing the original fic and reminding me this fic was still in limbo. And finally, many, many thanks to everyone who read the original and commented wanting to know more about Susan, Kes, and Leo. This one's for you.  
>  **Notes:** First of all, this is a sequel, so you might want to read Binary Stars before you read this one, because this follows up on several of the OCs created in the first fic. Also, there be spoilers. 
> 
> That stated, this fic has been four years in the making. I maintain it took so long because not only was it essentially AU, but it's also technically kid fic. Neither of those two things are actually things I'm fond of. ^_^;;; Still, it's here now, in a large part because people kept asking for it. While it was never one of my more popular fics, it does seem to have developed it's own following. 
> 
> Score one for perseverance.

Steve rolled to the side to avoid the blast, catching his shield as it bounced back to him. That last shot had clipped his arm, but not badly enough to hurt. 

He threw his shield again, watching his opponent dodge to the side, then ducked down as the shield bounced back. There was another blast that Steve only barely avoided. He grunted, the continuous fire making it more difficult to catch his shield. She was getting better.

He needed to get close. Steve threw his shield again, angling it so that she'd have to dodge towards him, rather than away. He rushed her. She tried to avoid it, flying up, but not fast enough. The shield caught her in the leg, shaking her off balance, and Steve grabbed her foot, anchoring her in place and using her shaky balance to throw her down.

She grunted in pain and rolled, but before she could fire at him again, the room brightened. There was a slow clapping.

"Bravo!" Tony said as he came down the stairs into the training room. "That was what, six minutes you've lasted against Cap? You're getting better. Faster than I did too."

Steve's opponent took her helmet off, her dark skin slicked with sweat and her straightened hair pulled back into a tight bun. Her face was more gaunt and weary than when Steve had first seen her, but at least she has been sleeping better since Tony got their current base fully operational. She glared at Tony, who only grinned wider. "It was eight minutes," Susan said. "And counting."

Tony whistled, coming over to stand next to Steve, who automatically pulled his husband in for a light kiss on his temple. He wasn't exactly _clingy_ like Tony teased him about, but after everything that happened... Steve wasn't taking any chances. "Find something?" Steve asked, knowing Tony wouldn't stop the training simulation without a reason.

The smile dropped from Tony's face. "Something's one word for it, considering we've got a Skrull openly running for president of the Interstellar Alliance. But I think I've got some good news. I might have found the twins."

"You've found Kes and Leo?" Susan asked, her eyes going wide. "Where are they?"

Tony leaned into Steve for a moment, taking what little comfort he allowed himself. " _Might_ ," he stressed, and Steve tightened the arm around his waist. "You know the past couple of leads haven't panned out. The Skrulls are laying a lot of traps for us. This might be another one."

"But?" Steve prompted, because the last few times Tony had never even hinted he might have found them.

"But this is the best lead I've gotten," Tony said, placing an arm atop Steve's and intertwining their fingers. "The Skrulls are moving two high priority prisoners at the end of the week, and that info I only found though a new decode I barely found a crack for with our current processing power. The prisoners might not be the twins, but they are definitely important. Breaking out whoever it is could help us in the long run, even if it's not Kes and Leo."

"But you think it is them?" Susan asked with hope that Steve hadn't heard since their last mission.

"I think it's likely," Tony replied, not elaborating on the reasons why.

Steve could fill them in himself. Prisoners of that much importance tended to be moved separately to prevent them from breaking out. Which meant the twins had found some leverage to keep them together. Or, more likely, one of them was being threatened to keep the other in line. He tightened his grip around Tony but kept a straight expression that wouldn't betray his thoughts. It would only worry Susan more, and there was currently nothing they could do about it. And the hope that was currently in her eyes was too welcome a sight after what had recently happened.

"Go on, kiddo. Hit the showers. I'll fill you in once you're done and Cap can drill you on your planing skills," Tony said, lightly tracing his finger down Steve's arm in reassurance. "We've still got a week before the transfer."

Susan looked at them, uncertainty and fear taking over. Tony disentangled himself from Steve to stand in front of her. "Hey there, Little Bear. What's wrong?"

"What if I..." Susan started, looking down. "What if I mess up again like last time?"

"That wasn't all you, Rhodey," Tony said, pulling her into a hug, armor and all.

Steve felt his hands turn to fists, anger directed inwardly. "That was a team failure," he said, slipping into his command voice. "And we've done all we can to make sure that mistake doesn't repeat itself."

"But it was my fault she died," Susan said, her voice breaking. She didn’t pull away from Tony though, which was a good sign. "...I didn’t even know her name."

"Shh, honey. We’ve already gone through this: the resistance had the mole. That wasn’t something we could have known," Tony said, patting her back even though she probably couldn't feel it through the armor. Steve felt his heart twist. Tony was such a good father, no matter what the other man said, and Steve wished he could have seen Tony with their own daughter at this age.

"We can't save everyone," Tony said. "Not even me and Cap. Even some of the best people I've known made mistakes. We just have to keep going."

"But what if I fail this time too?"

"Stow that talk, Avenger," Steve said gently. "You can't let the last mission get you down. Being in top shape means staying positive."

"Not an Avenger," Susan muttered, but she nodded.

Tony dried the tears that hadn't quite spilled from her eyes. "You are to us. Now come on, kiddo. Take a shower and I'll make some of this 26th century travesty they call food into lasagna for dinner. You'll feel better with food."

"You can't solve every problem with food, ya know," Susan replied, though she looked a little better already.

"Excuse you, it's worked so far. Are you implying it doesn't?" Tony said, mock-offended.

"It's what Cap tells you," Susan said, her heart not quite in the banter but the words reassuring Steve all the same. She was still fighting. That was what mattered.

"And I'm right," Steve said, rejoining the conversation. "But let's pretend for Tony this time, because he makes good lasagna when he doesn't burn it."

"I resent that," Tony said cheerfully.

"Just take things easy for now," Steve told her. "We'll go over everything at dinner."

Susan still looked frightfully young and scared, but she nodded, and the armor fell away at her signal. "I'll... I'll see you upstairs?" she said in the hesitant way of someone who had been abandoned and left on her own for too long.

"Of course," Steve reassured her, knowing all too well how that felt.

"Okay," she said, nodding once again before heading upstairs.

Steve stared after her, pulling Tony against him again as the man started to follow her. "She needs warmer clothes," he said. "Winter's going to start soon and it hits pretty hard here."

"Relax, Papa Cap. I've already got that covered."

"Tony, you promised-"

"I haven't stolen them _yet_ ," Tony said in exasperation. Steve felt a little guilty for presuming, but Tony had nearly gotten them discovered the last time he'd 'picked up a few things' for Susan on his own. "But I've got the shipment logs as well as the prisoner transfers upstairs. We may be needing two more sets soon, after all."

Steve nodded, stubbornly wrapping around Tony as he tried to leave again. 

"Look, Steve. I'm not disappearing either," Tony said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "It's been _months_ since you two turned me back on again. You can drop the cuddly octopus act."

Steve's cheeks flushed, and he forced himself to let go. "Tony, that's not..."

He heard a sigh, then felt Tony's hand on his cheek. "I know, honey, but you've got to give me some space here. Were you this clingy with Bucky when he came back?"

Steve knew Tony wouldn't like the answer, so he didn't say anything.

"Christ, you were, weren't you?" Tony asked, answering his own question. "It's a wonder Snowflake didn't kill you outright. Also a good thing I didn't know, because that's about when we-"

"It wasn't that kind of clingy, Tony," Steve said, because Tony's insecurities popped up at the oddest times, and Tony didn't need to be retrospectively jealous. He took Tony's face in his hands, kissing his forehead. "It really wasn't. But I... that was the second time I lost time, sweetheart. I can't do that again."

"You probably could," Tony replied absently, but he leaned in instead of away, allowing the touch. "You're better at adapting than anyone I know."

Steve shuddered, and Tony's arms immediately went around Steve's waist. "Steve, you-"

"I don't _want_ to, Tony," Steve said. "Doesn't matter if I could. I can't..."

"Shh..." Steve's breath hitched and Tony's arms tightened around him. He buried his face in Tony's neck, feeling awful. He shouldn't be making Tony uncomfortable like this. 

"Shit, Steve. I'm sorry," Tony said, slowly swaying them back and forth. "I'm sorry."

" _I'm_ sorry," Steve said, taking a deep breath. "It's not your... I should be better at this."

"Hey," Tony said. "What's that dumb phrase you say? Stow that talk and take your own advice. I married a cuddle octopus. I knew that going in, even if the extent of it is a bit more now. You're okay. We're both here."

Steve nodded, reluctantly letting go of Tony.

"How did Bucky get you to stop though?" Tony asked, subtly hopeful.

Steve laughed weakly, making a mental note to be better. Tony deserved better than a hovering husband. "Natasha and Sam pulled me aside to 'chat' about it."

Tony snorted, but didn't come back with a clever retort. Steve was grateful, because he wasn't sure if he could handle Tony telling him to back off right now.

"Alright. Let's go get dinner for our fledgling Avenger," Tony said, tugging slightly but not pulling away. Steve let go, because he was being ridiculous. It had been months. He should be better at this.

Still he was very glad when Tony took his hand as they went to the small kitchen.

* * *

It was a simple mission. According to Tony's reconnaissance, the Skrulls were trying to keep the transfer under-wraps so there were only a handful of soldiers assigned to the train. There were two big artillery guns that Susan could take out with a well-placed missile if she could get close enough, and one she had to take out manually since it was too close to the prisoners. With those out of the way, she could get the prisoners with the special harness she and Tony had rigged up that could accommodate two potentially injured twins (God, please no). Then she could get out and fly at a safe speed for her passengers while Tony and Cap ran interference on the computer end of things.

No plan ever survived meeting the enemy, as Cap liked to say. It wouldn't be that simple.

Susan swallowed. Cap would be there if things didn't go according to plan. Tony would be there in the suit with her. It was a simple mission.

"What if I mess this up?" Susan asked before she could stop herself. She at least managed to bite back the 'like the last time' that hung over her head.

"Easy, kiddo," Tony said, his voice soft and reassuring in her ear. It was more intimate hearing his voice in the suit rather than seeing him at the base. There was no muffled or tinny quality to the voice, just Tony right there in her ear. It never bothered her with JARVIS, but it was a little weird with Tony who she saw with a corporeal body every day.

A computer-generated corporeal body of a long dead super-hero ancestor of her best friends, that is. Susan couldn't handle this much weird in her life.

"Deep breath, Rhodey," Tony said. "Your vitals are spiking. You can do this. It's easy-peasy."

"What does that even mean?" Susan asked, biting her lip. "If I mess this up, you should take over."

"You know I can't do that, Little Bear," Tony said. "They've still got the virus that took out JARVIS, and if they compromise me while I've taken over the suit, they've got you in a ready-made coffin."

"But I..." Susan said, telling herself firmly not to cry. This was an easy mission. Kes always laughed and called her a crybaby, but Kes wasn't here right now. And if Susan messed this up, she'd be just like the resistance leader who...

"You see her when you close your eyes," Tony said, his voice flat.

"I didn't even know her name," Susan said instead of answering. 'Shadow1' was the only identification they had for the woman who had finagled a meeting out of her holographic guardians two months ago. There was no one to report the death back to, no family to inform or way to know if someone was looking for her, and that was Susan's fault. She hadn't come out of her rooms for a week after, not letting either Cap or Tony in. Regardless of if the resistance had a mole or not, she should have been better. And when she closed her eyes, she saw not only Shadow1, but Kes and Leo being buried in the landslide as well and she...

"It doesn't go away, sugar plumb" Tony told her. Susan felt her throat constrict. "But it does get better. _You_ get better. And you've been training hard the past few weeks. You can't go into this assuming you'll fail."

"How did you deal with it?" she asked. She wanted it to be better _faster_ , because she didn't know how long she could keep this up.

That got her a bark of dark laughter. "Sweet pea, you really don't want to follow my way of dealing. Or Steve's. We're both absolute crap at these things, and we can probably tell you more about how _not_ to deal than anything. This is one of those times I miss Sam, because he was... well, not our therapist as he liked to remind us, but he had more resources for dealing with that kind of thing. But if you don't mind some advice that'll make me the world's biggest hypocrite, talk to us. Don't keep it bottled up. We... Fuck, I have no clue what we could do, but we'll figure it out together if you let us help."

Susan took a shuddering breath. No fix. She should have known that. She did. She wasn't that naive anymore and she... she knew that. It just felt so.... heavy. She leaned against the cliff-face where she waited for the convoy, gravel crunching under her feet. It was dark, which wasn't helping either. Sure, she could see in the dark, and she wasn't afraid of it any more (and she hadn't been, no matter what Leo said - not since the second grade), but that didn't mean she liked it.

"We can still call off the mission," Tony said softly.

"What? But-"

"If you're not sure, we can track the train and try again. We don't even know if this is them, kiddo. There'll be another chance, especially if we can track where they're going. Kes sounds like the sort of girl who will _make_ another chance. We can stand down and wait till you've worked through things."

She closed her eyes, shuttering out the comforting sight of the HUD. She _wanted_ to stand down. She wanted that badly. She was scared, and she could see Shadow1's face in perfect detail as she was buried under the landslide, down to the fear in her eyes as she called out for Susan to help. It was so easy to imagine Kes or Leo there as well. If she failed...

But then Kes and Leo would still be with the Skrulls, being tortured and God knows what. Plus where ever that train went was bound to be much more heavily guarded. She couldn't... She couldn't leave them to that. Not if there was a chance she could get them out.

"I..." She said, opening her eyes as she tried to push Shadow1's face away, returning to the bright colors of the HUD. "I have to try."

"Good girl," Tony said. The words would have made her bristle, but the pride in Tony's voice stopped her short. She didn't deserve it, not after...

"Whatever you're thinking, Little Bear, I promise you it's not true," Tony said softly. "You can do this. Everyone falls sometimes. You're getting back up again, and we're both proud of you for that."

Susan laughed, though the sound was weak to her ears and rang hollow. "How did you know what I was thinking?"

"'Cause I've seen that look in the mirror enough times," Tony replied, and she thought he would be shrugging if she could have seen him. "That's what Cap always told me when he saw it. Don't tell him I said that though. He's a smug bastard as it is."

"As long as you won't tell him I'm scared?"

"We all are, Rhodey," Tony said. "And that wouldn't make a difference to him, but we can keep it our secret."

"That and fixing my vote in the election?"

"You deserved to vote, felon or no," Tony said swiftly. "I merely added your vote in. Steve would totally approve it if weren't... ya know, slightly dangerous. And highly illegal. More the slightly dangerous bit though."

"It's better than having a Skrull for president," Susan said, shuddering. One vote may not mean much, but she was glad all the same Tony had slipped hers in. She didn't think Steve would be _that_ upset that Tony risked it in the long run.

They fell into quiet after that as Susan waited for the hover train to come. She liked having a quiet moment before missions started, getting there early if she could, since it gave her a chance to calm down when she got too wound up. It was a good four hours before the train was supposed to come, but Cap didn't want to take any chances that they might slip out too early. She didn't mind waiting, even if that was more time for her to contemplate her failures.

It seemed like every time her mind would wander down those paths, there was a message from the Captain on her HUD or a picture of a kitten courtesy of Tony. They were both ridiculous, but they did make her feel better.

"Heads up, Little Bear," Tony said an hour later as the kitten playing on a desk vanished just before it jumped into a box. "Looks like Cap was right."

Fear settled in her gut, but she swallowed and pushed it down, scanning the darkness for the train. It was still a ways off; she could barely see it even with the suit's distance viewers.

The suit calculated the speed and distance faster than she could, and she set a timer. Taking a deep breath as it slowly crept closer, she listened to the servos click quietly as she moved away from the cliff face. When it was 300 meters away, she took off.

The heavy artillery spotted her immediately, but she dodged the beams, barrel-rolling to the side as she fought her way close enough to take out the first one with a missile. She ignored the thought of the operators and the heat of the missile, heading up for the second. She took a hit to her right side, gasping for breath as Tony yelled "Incoming!"

"You're a bit late," she hissed, firing the thrusters to regain her balance and catch up to the train again. Now she had the two remaining ones firing at her.

"You're just as bad as Steve," Tony muttered, throwing up a course suggestion, which Susan followed. It took her higher, and directly over the second artillery gun that she could take out easily. The course took her through one of the blind spots so she only had to dodge one set of pulse cannons.

Heading back down, Susan fired the missile as soon as she was close enough to avoid any counter measures. She put on a burst of speed as the cannon blew up behind her, heading to her last target. She twisted, her stomach dropping out as she took a sharp turn down to avoid a pulse beam. Bringing up her hands, she shot at the train's windows and the Skrull manning the gun, diving through the broken glass. She was glad that it'd worked. Tony had used too many 'probablys' when she'd asked if the repulsors had the power to break through the defenses.

She was blasted against the wall as soon as she entered, but Susan grit her teeth against the bruises she was going to find tomorrow, firing in the opposite direction. She heard a scream, putting up her shields as another blast came.

"Power 95% and holding. Your additions to the shields were awesome," Tony said gleefully. "They can't even - whoa!"

Susan winced as the shield wavered. "85% and holding," Tony said. "Let's take them out before they get another hit like that."

"You had to jinx it," she muttered darkly, cutting the shield and diving towards the gun controls. She put up the shields again, ignoring Tony calling out 75%. She held, the suit locating the angle of her attacker as she waited for the next blast. When she heard the gun recharge, she counted to three and dropped the shields. Her boots burst to life, throwing her into the nearby wall. It hurt like a bitch, but she twisted to shoot her attacker as the blast took out the controls of the heavy artillery that had been behind her.

" _Good girl_ ," Tony said as she slowly straightened back up, taking a moment to just breathe as the shock of hitting the wall faded. "You have no injuries beyond some pretty spectacular bruises," Tony continued, his voice like a balm as she scanned for any more threats. "And a very long lecture from Captain America about clever plans not including running into walls and scaring him half to a second death, but he's proud of you too. That was definitely a plan worthy of the red and gold."

"Walls hurt," she bit out, but at least nothing too bad had happened.

"Believe me, Little Bear, _I know_ ," Tony groused. "You are exactly my kind of crazy. Now let's go stop the train."

She couldn't help a small laugh at that. Tony was absolutely ridiculous. She didn't know if she was relieved or annoyed to be his kind of crazy, but at least she was doing something right with the armor.

Taking one last breath, Susan straightened up and made sure her attackers were down - then shot at the controls one more time for good measure. She flew back out the window, parallel to the train. Putting on a boost of speed, she raced ahead. The train was fast, but thankfully she was faster.

Tony filtered the train's lights so she could still see as she turned back to face it. Bracing herself, she fired a missile where the engine should be according to the blueprints, then raced to the other side to get an armful of train as she braced it against the impact. Inertia was still pushing them forward and she struggled to keep the train from tipping over from the blast, kicking her repulsor boots in gear at fifty percent. She sighed with relief when the train started to slow as she strained against the metal, gritting her teeth and growling lowly as she pushed it back on the track.

The train ground against the metal of her suit. Tony chimed in her ear about the suit's integrity still holding. Soon she had to slowly cut the power on the repulsors so that she wasn't pushing the train too far. Finally, she let go completely, letting the train slow to a halt on its own. She flew off a little ways, watching it come to a complete stop with some trepidation.

It was a very brief respite. She heard an energy rifle and only barely made it into the air as it scorched by her. The targeting system already had a lock on the shooter and two others, and she let loose the small shoulder missiles that they had picked up on their last Skrull base raid. It felt good, using their own weapons against them, and she still remembered how Tony had beamed at her when she'd managed to combine the two different technologies. It helped against the sick twist in her stomach as they went down. If there was one thing she was glad of, it was that she had re-awoken Cap and Tony _after_ the first few missions she had tackled on her own. She'd only thrown up the first time, but she still hated it.

She rolled to the side in the air as another blast went by her, heeding the warning Tony put up on the HUD. She banked around the train and took down the last two soldiers. As she flew by, she could see the human skin they'd been wearing changing to a darker color. At least they were hitting the right train. The Skrulls were so entrenched in the government now that mistaken identity was a definite concern, one Susan worried about a lot.

"That was too easy," she said finally as she landed, watching the train warily. The bruises she felt screamed otherwise, but she knew if Kes and Leo were on that train, there had to be something more.

"Cap and I agree with you on that," Tony said. "Scanning for any other-"

Susan screamed as she hit the side of the train, making a dent in the metal. She could hear automated warnings and Tony shouting, but she ignored them as she forced her eyes open. The suit's camera zoomed in, focusing on the person holding a large energy cannon on her shoulders. _Kor'la'vin_.

Pushing herself off the train, Susan flew up to avoid another blast from the canon. The armor wouldn't take another hit like that, and the blast had shorted out the shields. But this was _Kor'la'vin_ , the Skrull who killed her family, impersonated her mother, and tortured Cap, and all that mattered was that she wasn't getting away again.

She flew straight at the Skrull, going full throttle. The speed ripped at her stomach, but she ignored it and tackled her to the ground.

Except Kor'la'vin wasn't there and she overshot the train, banking hard to pull up as Kor'la'vin laughed. Susan shot a repulsor only to have Kor'la'vin disappear again. Susan swore, hearing a low whistle from Tony as she did.

"You'd make Natasha proud with that mouth," Tony said, giving her the impression he approved. Her mother wouldn't have, but she wasn't here right now. She wasn't here because of Kor'la'vin.

"But Cap reminds you to gosh, darn it, watch your language," Tony continued in that tone that meant he was annoying Cap. "Keep shooting, Rhodey."

"It's not working!" Susan replied as Kor'la'vin disappeared yet again.

"What's wrong?" Kor'la'vin asked, somewhere to the right. "Can't you hit me?"

Susan screamed in frustration, shooting again and taking a blast to her back that made her stumble forward. Not the canon, thankfully, because at this range that would have taken her out. She let some of the back-mounted missiles fly to keep Kor'la'vin from having time to charge the bigger gun.

"She's like a knight," Tony said finally. "Every time she makes a short jump, she doesn't have time to set a destination. She goes forward or back 30 meters and to the right 10. 130 degrees, now!"

Susan's arm automatically snapped up, but Kor'la'vin disappeared again. "Not fast enough," she growled to Tony.

"That device can only transport so many times," Tony said. "Should just be a few-"

"You're supposed to be War Machine, not some handicap," a very familiar voice said where Kor'la'vin was supposed to appear next. The disappointment was exactly how Susan remembered it. She'd heard it for so many years...

Susan hesitated, looking over to see her mother's face in Kor'la'vin's uniform.

"Susan," Tony said, his voice low and urgent.

But she missed any of what he tried to tell her as she flew forward, screaming. "Don't you dare-"

This time the blast hit her in the side and she hit the ground before she could correct her course, rolling uncontrollably. At last she slowed, using her arm to push herself up as the armor groaned in ways that didn't sound healthy. Her side hurt, but she pushed that aside to fire again, even if it missed.

"You're such a _baby_ , Susan," Kor'la'vin said in the same voice. "All you do is sit and cry. Your Daddy and me, we tried to raise you, but this is all you can do? Your family is dead because of you."

"Don't listen to her, Rhodey," Tony said in her ear, low and furious. "She's got two more charges, and what she's saying is pure bullshit."

"You can't even get simple things right," Kor'la'vin said, this time right behind her.

"You're not my mother!" Susan yelled, grabbing for Kor'la'vin. To her great surprise, Kor'la'vin was there, and somehow the fingers of the armor were around her throat. Susan must have moved, but now all she could feel was the throat she could crush so easily.

Kor'la'vin was still wearing her mother's face.

"Careful. She still has two charges left and she's planning something," Tony said. "She'll have more control over where she can hop to with her stalling too. She's upsetting you so you'll make mistakes. Keep your head."

"You can't hurt your own mama, can you?" Mama - _Kor'la'vin_ said. "Even after I took her place. I was there for _months_ and you never figured it out, but you could never hurt me."

Susan's fingers tightened around her throat as the repulsor in her free hand powered up. It only made Kor'la'vin laugh breathlessly. "And what would Captain America think of you killing? Heroes don't kill," Kor'la'vin continued.

"Rhodey, she's charging the cannon-"

Susan turned her free hand away, letting Kor'la'vin go. A horrible, _wrong_ smirk crossed her mother’s face, and Susan shot at her.

Kor'la'vin teleported and Rhodey fired another pulse immediately at 130 degrees. A scream erupted. Susan turned to see Kor'la'vin fall to the ground, her face obviously a Skrull's now. 

She didn't get back up, the cannon powering down in her hands.

Susan swallowed, pushed down the urge to scream, then swallowed again as the HUD pulled up a few quick scans for a heartbeat. Had she just-

"NO! Don't you dare! _Come back!_ " she shouted as light surrounded the Skrull's body. She fired a repulsor, but it was too late. Kor'la'vin was gone, and that wasn't the short-range transporter. Susan hit the side of the train with her fist, closing her eyes when the lights of the HUD started to blur.

"Rhodey? Come on, Little Bear. Talk to me." Tony's voice was soft in her ear, worried and gentle.

"She's gone," Rhodey said.

"I know, sweetheart," Tony replied. "She's also probably dead."

That hit her like a punch to the gut, Kor'la'vin's words coming back twofold. "You saw what I did. God, she was counting on me _not-_ "

"But you did," Tony said. "And you're still here because of your quick thinking, rather than in her place. You did a good job."

"Cap-"

"Doesn't have to find out about what you were feeling when it happened," Tony said gently. "If you don't want to tell him, he doesn't have to know. And I know he'll agree that you had a good plan."

"I just killed her, didn't I?" Susan asked. _In revenge_. She forced down the hollow feeling only to swallow down bile. Heroes shouldn't want revenge. Everyone knew that. All the stories about the original Avengers, they were all supposed to be good people, and good people didn't want revenge! Heroes protected people!

"She was gone before the suit could complete the scans, but probably," Tony said.

"How can you act like that's nothing?"

Tony snorted. "Cap's the one you want to go to for morals, sugar pie. I was just a man with a suit, and I killed out of revenge more than once, and with less danger to me than you had. If anything, that was self-defense."

"But..." Susan said, her eyes widening. Avengers didn't kill if they could avoid it. That's what the history books _said_.

"We can talk more when you get back, okay, sweetheart?" Tony said, his voice promising hugs that Susan desperately wanted right now. "But we gotta check the train before reinforcements come. The train is shielded from the kind of teleport they used to get Kor'la'vin out, but the fact that she was gone so quickly means it was either automatic or someone must be watching. Either way, they know to send in the Calvary now."

Susan took a deep breath and nodded. He couldn't see her, but he was monitoring the suit. She could deal with this. She had to. "I thought I'd feel good once she..."

"Not really," Tony replied. "It only leaves an empty place inside you. But at least the burning is gone."

She swallowed once more and took off. She still had to get the prisoners off the train and she couldn't afford to think about the Skrull who murdered her parents. She could think about the gaping hollow in her chest later.

The door of the train offered very little resistance to a pair of repulsors, and she took out the remaining guards before she even had a chance to look around. It was a small cabin, with very little to look at except for dead guards and...

"Leo!"

The armor clanked loudly as she ran over to the bench he was chained to. He didn't look up as she stood in front of him, taking in the sight of his black eye and split lip that stood out among the other bruises on his face. She carefully ran a hand through his hair, biting her lip as Tony started to put up the results of the scans as they came in. "Leo... But where's Kes?"

"There's one other life-form," Tony told her.

"Where?" Susan snapped, pulling at the chains that bound Leo to the wall. They came off with a satisfying clunk. Leo slumped forward into her arms, and she laid him gently on the bench.

"Hidden catch on the door behind you. They wanted them hidden."

"I don't see it," Susan said, looking around frantically.

"Ask and you shall receive." A target appeared on the HUD, and she didn't waste a moment as she blasted at the catch.

The sliding door fell open, appearing half-way up the wall where there had only been flawless metal before. It was a small space, and Susan started to feel claustrophobic just looking at it, which was weird considering she was encased in a suit of armor and that never bothered her. She moved closer, finally able to look down into the hidden space to see... "Kes!"

Kes was lying on her side, her hair fanned out on the table. Some of it barely hid the bruise on her cheek. Her face was tilted to the side, baring the horrific bruises on her neck. She was still beautiful, even in the grungy blue clothes that had to have been from the Skrulls.

Carefully, Susan pulled Kes out of the small space, cradling her in her arms. "Kes! Come on, wake up!"

"Looks like there's some kind of sedative in both of them, and they're not Skrulls according to these readings," Tony said, his voice urgent in her ear. "This is what we put together the harness for. We made it just in case something like this happened, remember?"

"Yeah," Susan said, torn between keeping hold of Kes and getting the harness ready.

"Come on, kiddo. We gotta move before reinforcements arrive."

Susan took one last look at Kes and Leo before taking a deep breath and setting Kes down. She could do this. She had to get them out of here.

"You saved them, Buttercup," Tony said. "We've got them safe now. We just have to get them out of here."

Susan laughed weakly. She could still mess this up, but she had found them. The knot inside her chest was beginning to unwind.

She had found them. She could keep the twins safe.

* * *

The trip back was long, but uneventful. Tony was taking no chances with any of the ducklings, so he gave Susan a very roundabout course and kept an eye on all signals he had access to. He also triple and quadruple checked the twins using the suit's sensors, making sure they weren't Skrulls and had no tracking devices.

Four had already been found and taken care of, but Tony was nothing if not paranoid.

"If you didn't find them all the first three times, there probably isn't more," Steve said, his arms sliding around Tony's waist as he rested his chin on his shoulder.

"I don't want to miss any of the frequencies," Tony said, resisting the urge to jostle Steve off with a quip about how terrible that was for his posture. He sighed and felt guilty. This was his _husband_. He shouldn't be this annoyed because Steve was being a cuddle bug, and he knew it wasn't because Steve thought he was fragile, no matter what the dark voice in his coding told him.

Besides, just because Tony had found four trackers didn't mean there weren't more.

"Tony..." Steve said, gentle reproof in his voice. "We've done everything we can. It's up to the kids now."

"Kids who have been tortured emotionally and physically for almost two years now. And I'm not just talking about what the twins must have gone through," he growled, trying to pull out of Steve's grip. Steve let him, but only to get about a foot away before he felt Steve's hands on his shoulders. His mind literally went offline for a nanosecond as Steve started massaging. Tony never figured out if it was the serum or a natural ability, but Steve's massages were almost as legendary as his alter ego.

"We won't let them be taken again," Steve said, a steely quality to his voice that always managed to settle something in Tony. It was the tone he used when accepting no alternatives, and on the rare occasions Tony wasn't on the other end of the argument, Steve always allayed the fears Tony had.

"We won't," Steve repeated, and Tony felt himself relax without quite meaning to. "Besides, kids are pretty tough. We've already seen how resourceful Susan and Kestrel are, and I doubt Leon's far behind them. And we'll be here if they need us."

"I'm terrible with emotional problems," Tony said, just before Steve turned his non-physical brains to mush by pushing _just there_.

"You're good with other people's problems," Steve said with a hint of a smile. "You've always helped me when I had nightmares."

"Don't think... oooh. Don't think a blow job would..." Tony let out a small whimper as Steve hit the right spot. He was nothing but a computer code right now with a physical form. How was he this tense?

"I'm sure you'll manage something with that genius brain of yours," Steve said, drawing a particularly low moan out of Tony.

"Is this a bad time?" Rhodey said, her voice hesitant over the speakers. "Because if it is, can you at least make it so I can't hear? Computer sex is not something my young mind wants to contemplate."

Tony immediately ruined Steve's work by tensing again. He could feel Steve glancing along his code and pulling back when he realized Susan was talking to him. Steve was ever so uptight when it came to privacy. "Something wrong?" he asked, making a note to high five her for her sass later.

"I think Leo is waking up."

Tony pinged her location. She wasn't too far. "Okay, kiddo. Putting this on the loud speaker so Cap can hear," Tony said, redirecting the link to include both of them and sending Steve the relevant biodata. "Your call. Think he'll trust it's you if you keep flying? Cause you don't have a lot of cover where you are."

"I... think so. But with the Skrulls..."

"Then stay in the air, but slow a bit," Steve said, slipping into his Reassuring Captain Tone. "And keep talking to him. If he has a bad reaction, you can land, but he might settle if he can hear your voice."

"Um, what do I say?" Rhodey asked.

"Tell him how awesome we are," Tony said, giving Steve a small glare at the light pinch on his arm. "What? I can talk about that for hours."

"You can talk about _anything_ for hours," Rhodey muttered darkly.

"I resent the implication in your tone, young lady," Tony said as Steve poorly stifled a laugh. Traitor. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"You can talk about what's happened since the last time you saw them," Steve suggested, cutting off any reply. Tony only pouted a little, because Baby Rhodey gave as good as she got when she wasn't being down on herself, and he liked her spark. He supposed there was something hardwired in the Rhodes' DNA to not take any Stark bullshit unless they were getting into trouble together. He would take credit for that and consider it a compliment.

"I..." Rhodey started to say.

"It doesn't have to be the hard things," Steve said. "You can talk about yesterday, or how annoying Tony is."

"Hey!"

Steve grunted at the elbow to his ribs, kissing Tony's temple in a cheeky apology.

"Are you two being disgusting and romantic again?" Rhodey asked. "Because if I was interrupting-"

"Just talk, sugar plum," Tony said.

* * *

Steve was pretty sure computers couldn't have a heart attack. Tony assured him they couldn't, at least. But when Susan brought in the twins, he felt like his heart had stopped.

They were _children_ , only two years older than Susan. They were children and he could see the signs of abuse and torture in the countless bruises, the way the clothes practically fell off of them, Leon's mangled leg, and the marks on Kestrel's throat and back. He was half tempted to pull up a punching bag and start systematically taking it apart. He didn't have the pent-up energy in his body anymore, but he did have a very strong urge to punch something.

He and Tony worked quickly to get them out of the harness. They were coming around. Leon tried to struggle, but Susan took her helmet off and was speaking frantically about their base. She only calmed when Steve spared a moment to touch her shoulder once she was out of the armor.

"-not the best place to live, but I tried to clean up before coming to rescue you, so don't make fun of me for it," Susan said, looking up at him and Tony with wide eyes. "He's stirring, but why hasn't he woken up?"

Tony's eyes were blank for a moment before they returned to their normal brown. Steve shivered, wondering if that happened when he was looking at data too. "Looks like he's having a bad reaction to whatever drug they gave him," Tony said calmly. There was a barely perceptible tightness about his shoulders that gave away the fact he was upset too, and Steve longed to pull him into a hug. Steve fought down the urge and set Kestrel down on the bed, brushing some of the hair out of her face.

"I'll get the meds," Tony said. Then he disappeared.

Panic coursed through Steve, and he grit his teeth. Tony was a computer program. He could reappear in other places faster, but damn it, Steve really hated it when he did that - even if a ping told him Tony was just in their supply closet.

"He promised you not to do that anymore," Rhodey said, looking torn between Kestrel, Leon, and Steve. She had been privy to that very loud fight.

"It's to get medicine," Steve said, his voice tight. Tony could have at least given him some warning, but that was neither here nor there. They could talk about it later.

He saw the movement out of the corner of his eye. It was the only warning he got before a punch landed on his jaw. It wasn't a very strong one, but the surprise caught him off guard. He reacted after that, catching the small wrist and pushing it down. He remembered himself just before putting Kestrel in a more painful position. He blinked as a pair of green eyes stared up at him. "It's okay," he said.

Not that the words helped. Kestrel was already struggling weakly against him. "Let go!" she yelled breathlessly. "Let..."

"Susan!" Steve barked, but Susan was already at Kestrel's side.

"Kes, you're safe now," she said, putting a gentle hand on Kestrel's arm. "You and Leo are safe. I... I got you out."

Kestrel stilled for a moment, then continued to fight. "Damn Skrulls," she said, twisting in Steve's grip.

"We're not Skrulls!" Susan said, looking to Steve for help.

Before he could try, Tony was back, a device in his hand and a first aid kit tucked under his arm as he went straight for Leon. "Nope. No Skrulls here," Tony said. "We ran that scan at least ten times. Steve said all of them after five were a waste, but I'm a paranoid bastard."

"You're... how are you here?" Kestrel asked, stilling.

"I'm here because of a fantastically bad idea on Rhodey's part. You should be proud of her," Tony said, humming at the readings on a device. He set down the kit and picked out a second device that Steve didn't recognize, but a quick access to the server told him was the modern equivalent of a needle. "You've got Captain America behind you. You should remember his program. Say hi, Cap."

"Hi," Steve said awkwardly. "If you promise not to hit me again, I'll let you go."

Kestrel didn't promise. "I'm not... What are you doing to Leo!"

"He had a bad reaction to the Skrull sedative," Susan said. "We're just trying to help him. Kes, it's me. You're safe."

"Because that worked the last five times you tried it," Kestrel snapped. "You're Skrulls, all of you. Really, really weird ones, but still Skrulls."

"She has a point, Little Bear," Tony said as he administered some kind of drug to Leo. "Ask Cap. You programmed him not to lie."

"She programmed me to tell when other people are lying," Steve corrected in exasperation. "And only in code."

"See? He hates lying. He's as bad as George Washington," Tony replied.

"Who?" Susan asked.

It hurt something deep inside of Steve that George Washington wasn't taught in schools. It made sense. America was a country in the past and not even on the same planet. It just killed the small part of him that felt history was important.

"You're making Cap cry patriotic tears," Tony said far too gleefully.

"We're not here to hurt you," Steve said, cutting off the banter with a glare. "Susan, do you have a Skrull detector?"

"Yeah, just a sec," Susan said, going over to the armor. She pressed a few buttons and a small device came off.

"I'm going to let you go now, so please don't attack," Steve said, keeping his voice gentle. Kestrel nodded and tensed, but she did as he said. When she wobbled to the side, he caught her shoulder, but didn't restrain her again.

He motioned to Susan, who handed Kestrel the Skrull detector. "Now, given what Susan keeps telling me, you're pretty smart. Smart enough to tell if one of those has been tampered with, right? So go ahead and scan us. Well, scan Susan. You won't find much scanning me and Tony."

Kestrel didn't automatically start a scan, taking the device apart quickly. Steve tried to help when she fumbled it, but he backed off at her glare. He smiled reassuringly at Susan's questioning glance.

"And don't try to make a weapon out of it," Tony said, not looking up from Leon. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing there. Just scan."

Kestrel scowled but continued arranging the innards of the device. Steve couldn't help the small chuckle as he shook his head. "She's definitely a Stark," he muttered.

Finally, she closed the case and pointed it at Susan. Steve held his breath just in case she _had_ turned it into a weapon. But it only beeped, giving her a reading proclaiming Susan Skrull-negative.

Kestrel's eyes widened. She looked at Susan. "I... Susan..."

"It's me," Susan said. "We got you out, you and Leo. Tony said he followed the clues you left. It's... It's really me."

"You..." She listed forward, and Susan caught her this time. Steve stepped back, giving the girls some space.

"You've gotten taller," Kestrel said, her eyes filling with tears.

"Kes..."

"Still a crybaby though," Kestrel said, wiping away Susan's tears rather than her own.

"I thought I'd never find you! I'm sorry it took so long. I'm so sorry..." Susan said, hugging Kestrel tightly and hiding her face in the other girl's shoulder.

"Shh," Kestrel said, hugging Susan back and crying freely. "You found us. You did it."

Steve went over to Tony, feeling like he was intruding on their reunion. Still, it was hard to tear his eyes away from the girls, especially when they had worked so hard for this moment. "How is he?" he asked Tony quietly.

"He should start to come around soon," Tony said, but his voice was tight and tense in a way Steve knew meant he was upset. His hands tightened around the medkit reflexively.

"What's wrong?" Steve asked, reaching out and kneading Tony's shoulders to help him relax.

"He's got high levels of histamines in his system, and from these readings, I'd say he's been given this drug multiple times. Frequently, I'd say. They knew about this reaction."

There was a ping, and Steve saw Leon's data that Tony had sent him. "They broke his leg," Steve said, his hands tightening briefly on Tony's shoulders.

"A year ago," Tony replied. "They forced it to heal wrong. We don't have the facilities to fix it here, either."

Steve looked through the rest of the data, beginning to understand why Tony was upset. He swallowed, feeling a little sick at the implications of the readings. Kestrel's scans wouldn't be much better. "We got them back," Steve said, as much for himself as for Tony. "We'll keep them from getting hurt like this again."

"I will tear the Skrulls apart," Tony replied, anger finally surfacing. "There won't be anything left of them when I'm through."

"Tony-"

"I should get started," Tony said, shoving the medkit at Steve. "I'm-"

Steve grabbed his wrist before he could blink out. "Don't do anything yet," Steve ordered.

Tony tried to pull away, and he growled, but Steve didn't let him go. "Steve, I'm not-"

"Stay until he comes around," Steve pleaded, knowing how Tony could get when his temper got the better of him. "We can take this slow, remember? We'll make sure it doesn't happen again, but the kids need both of us right now."

Tony still looked like he wanted to argue, so Steve pulled him in for a hug, kissing his temple. He could feel Tony practically trembling in anger. "I need to get started _now_ ," Tony said, though he didn't pull away.

"Calm down," Steve said.

"How can you look at that and not-"

"Shh," Steve said. "I'm angry too. But I don't give terrorists my home address when I'm angry."

"That was _once_ ," Tony said, but he turned to face Steve, burying his face against Steve's neck. "And don't act all high and mighty. You're worse when you lose your temper."

Steve hummed in agreement, rubbing small circles into Tony's tense shoulders. He'd admit if Kor'la'vin were to walk in right now, she probably wouldn't be leaving the room in one piece. "And what about the time you nearly brought the whole Tower down because-"

"Okay, I don't think clearly when I'm angry. Point taken," Tony grumbled.

Steve couldn't help the small smile that tugged at his lips. One crisis averted for now. While he definitely understood Tony's feelings, they couldn't afford to risk the kids by going off half-cocked.

Leon groaned, and Tony tried to pull away. Steve held on automatically, until he saw the quickly hidden flash of annoyance on Tony's face. He let Tony go, guilt creeping up to eat at him.

Leon settled under Tony's hand carding through his hair. He'd done that with James, Steve remembered with a pang, right before leaning down to kiss him good night. The memories of their children were still difficult to go through, but Steve couldn't help a soft sigh at the sight.

"Who..." Leon said, struggling to open his eyes. "Kes..."

"I'm here," Kestrel said, Susan helping her move closer.

Leon shook Tony's hand off, struggling to find some leverage. "Not human," he muttered.

"Not Skrull either," Kestrel said.

Leon frowned, squinting at Tony, who just waved cheekily. "Not Skrull," Leon agreed, confusion taking over.

"Corporeal computer program," Tony explained.

"Huh," Leon said. "Never fought one of those b'fore."

"Please don't fight," Susan said.

That gave Leon a jolt, and he tried to turn. "Suzie?"

"Whoa there, sport," Tony said, catching Leon before he fell over. It almost distracted Steve from the blush creeping up Susan's cheeks.

Steve remembered when Tony used to make him feel like that, all tongue-tied and shy. To be young again... He supposed it was only a matter of code, if Tony's transformation to a younger version of himself was anything to go by. It was an odd feeling to know that age really was just a number.

Leon relaxed as Kestrel confirmed their identities. He wondered if the Skrulls had ever managed to trick the twins about each other, but Steve got the feeling they hadn't. The kids were safe. Crying, but safe. So why did Steve not feel happier?

Leaving the kids to their reunion, Steve snuck out. Tony would watch over them, and there were winter clothes to steal. He could catch up with them later.

* * *

Susan woke up, instantly alert. It had been a hard habit to learn, but one that she mastered before she'd found Steve and Tony. This time, however, she relaxed, hearing Kes's soft breathing nearby. The twins were safe. Susan had saved them, a fact which still hadn't really sunk in, even three days later.

She was glad Kes was sleeping peacefully for once. It was probably the first time since Kes had moved into her room that the other girl hadn't woken up screaming. Kes was thinner than Susan remembered, and more battered, but still just as beautiful in a way Susan could never hope to compare to. It was hard not to reach out and touch her friend, to reassure herself it wasn't just a dream, but Susan didn't want to risk waking her.

Instead, Susan slipped out of bed. Tony or Cap were usually around the moment one of them woke up, and she wasn't surprised to see Tony in the kitchen, warming some milk for her. She took a seat at the counter, swinging her feet as she took him in. Tony was a little taller than her, but still shorter than Kes and Leo. He was dressed casually in a t-shirt from a band she'd never heard of and blue jeans. He didn't have shoes or socks on, which Susan would have thought would be freezing for anyone else, but how much computer programs felt that sort of thing was a debate for Kes, not for her.

"So," Tony said, sliding over the mug of milk. "What wakes up the Little Bear so early?"

"Just... woke up," Susan said, not being able to explain it more than that.

"I hate it when that happens," Tony said, frowning a moment. His eyes went blank before a virtual cup of coffee appeared in front of him.

"You can't sleep or get tired," Susan said.

"It's the principle of the thing," Tony replied, clutching the coffee against him. "Still no hits," he said before she could ask.

Susan looked down. She'd asked for Tony to find anything he could on Kor'la'vin. Still nothing probably meant...

"So she's really dead?" Susan asked, the empty feeling Tony had described earlier settling in.

"It's not impossible that they're keeping her under the radar, but more than likely," Tony said. "You okay with that?"

"Yes," she said, the vehemence behind her answer surprising her. "Does that make me a bad person? I feel better knowing she's..."

"Told you, kiddo, you want morality, you're talking to the wrong guy."

"You said..." Susan hesitated. "You said you'd killed people before."

"Loads," Tony said, looking down at his mug. "They used to call me the merchant of death even."

"They what?" Susan could hardly picture it.

"Glad to know that legacy died out," Tony muttered, though there was a dark look in his eyes. "I used to make weapons before Iron Man. Lots of innocent people died because I wasn't paying enough attention."

"I didn't know," Susan said. Of course, the history books said how his father had made so much money, but they all said Tony had shut the weapons department down. They never said much about before then.

"Never meet your heroes, kid," Tony said wearily.

"No, that's not... It's just hard to think of how the history books get so much wrong."

"History gets all sorts of things wrong," Tony said. "It's written by the people in charge, so it's easy enough to ignore some of the less palatable parts."

"You said you killed out of revenge," Susan said.

"So I did," Tony said. "I'll admit, I don't lose sleep over the bastards who stole my weapons."

"But... I killed Kor'la'vin," Susan said, the empty ache coming back. "Heroes aren't supposed to..."

"Be human?" Tony smirked. "I was never much of a hero, Rhodey. But human error, _that_ I'm an expert on."

Susan pondered that for a while, trying to put her thoughts together. "If you weren't a hero, why did you create Iron Man?"

"Like I said, human error. That I know loads about," Tony said, staring down into his electronic coffee without drinking it. "Iron Man was a way to... balance that out. Correct my mistakes and help people, rather than destroying lives."

"That sounds an awful lot like a hero to me," Cap said as he entered the room. He pulled Tony into a hug, which Tony only huffed at. "And Captain America is an expert on heroes."

"Yeah, yeah," Tony said, attempting to hide a blush behind the coffee. Susan watched as he started to pull away, a cross look flickering across his features when Cap held on.

"Um," Susan said, allowing Tony to break free while Cap was distracted. "Are you guys alright?"

"Peachy," Tony said a little too quickly, and Cap didn't quite mask his hurt.

"You're like a peach?" Susan guessed, knowing his tone, but not the word. Sometimes he and Cap used such antiquated language that she could barely keep up.

Tony pat her on the head, then left the room, thankfully by walking this time and not disappearing. She looked at Cap, who just sighed. "I suppose Tony's gone through the whole 'What woke you?' routine?" he said, rather than answering.

"Yup," Susan said awkwardly, because Cap could easily check the camera logs to see. He didn't though, making him one of the world's strangest computer programs.

Cap looked concerned, but this wasn't a topic she could talk about with Cap. She didn't know what else to say, however, which lead to an uncomfortable silence.

"We could always spar and get rid of some of that excess energy?" Cap said finally.

Sparring sounded amazing, actually. "Yeah, let's." She finished her milk and hopped off the stool to put on the armor but froze when she saw who was in the doorway. "Leo?"

Leo leaned heavily on the cane they'd found him, but he tried to keep his weight evenly placed in the brace she and Tony had hastily constructed. He was much worse for wear than Kes, but Susan felt her heart-rate speed up when he smiled at her.

"Didn't mean to interrupt," Leo said quietly, trying not to hobble as he came in.

"No, it's f-fine," Susan stammered, torn between trying to help him and staying put. "We were just going to-" she started to say, then cut herself off.

"How's the leg treating you?" Cap asked.

She saw the small flinch and how Leo's hand tightened on the cane. "It's treated me better," Leo said with a lopsided grin that felt forced. "Sorry for the burden."

"It's not a burden," Susan said hurriedly. "Tony and I will finish the brace soon, I promise. There's just a few more parts we need to find."

It hurt that he didn't meet her eyes at that, but she didn't push. Cap sensed something amiss, but he didn't know Leo like she did.

"Sounds great, Suzie," Leo said, earning him a scowl. "Still hate that name? You haven't changed."

"And you're just as mean," Susan replied, though she couldn't help but notice how _quiet_ Leo was. Usually he teased her more.

Leo stumbled as he tried to take a seat, and both she and Cap were at his side before he fell. "I'm _fine_ ," Leo snapped, shocking Susan. He'd never snapped like that before, not at her. "I don't need both-"

Leo trailed off, fighting with his new-found temper. "Leo?" she asked, giving him space.

"I'm fine," he said again, this time with that fake smile. "Sorry to worry you."

Susan bit her lip. "Leo..."

"Having an injury doesn't make you useless," Cap said, startling both of them.

Leo's silence grew deeper, and Susan knew Cap had 'hit the nail on the head' to use one of Tony's expressions.

"So says the guy who traded all of his flaws for the peak of human perfection," Leo said, the bitterness in his words catching Susan off guard.

Cap flushed, sighing as he rubbed his forehead. "That doesn't make you useless," Cap said again. "Give it some time and-"

"Time!" Leo snarled. Susan took a step back. She'd never seen Leo genuinely angry before, but this... This wasn't like him at all. "All I've had is time. Time to be useless because Kes is the one they want, not me. Time when I'm hurt to keep Kes in line. Time when I could do _nothing_ to get us out. Time when I'm so useless that-"

"Stop," Susan begged, only now aware she was crying. "Leo, you're not-"

"But I _am_ ," Leo said, struggling to stand on his own. "You think I don't know that the only reason they kept me alive was to keep Kes from acting out? And now I can't even do the one thing I was good at, being Cap. If that's not useless then-"

"That's enough," Cap said, his voice thundering through the room. "I've known plenty of people who have fought with disabilities, but self-pity won't get you back in fighting shape."

Susan was shocked by the hard expression on Cap's face. Anger filled her on Leo's behalf, and she moved to stand between them. "You don't have to be so mean to him!"

"He needs to hear it," Cap said, his eyes cold. "And you should be glad it's me saying this instead of Tony, considering Colonel Rhodes was his best friend."

"Colonel Rhodes..?" Susan asked, jolting at the name.

"The original pilot of the War Machine armor," Cap confirmed. "He was paralyzed after one of our fights. It took a while, but he never let his injuries define him. He held the line with us against _Thanos_. Needing time to heal isn't the same thing as being useless."

The history books never said anything about _that_. 

"That brace you're wearing," Cap continued. "I recognize it. It's more high-tech, but it's the same design as the one Tony made for Rhodey. If you have time for self-pity, you could be doing the physical training Tony gave you. Those will help you be more independent again."

"That's no reason to be so hard on him," Susan said, anger returning. "He's had-"

She stopped when she felt a hand entangle with hers, looking down to see Leo's fingers entwined with hers. He still didn't meet her eyes, which she was privately glad of for once, because she felt her face heat up as she tried to hide her blush. "Leo..."

"He's right," Leo said.

"You're not-"

"Sue, he's _right_ ," Leo said, not looking at either of them. "I'm just feeling sorry for myself. I'm not..."

Cap walked over and gave Susan a smile. Then he ruffled Leo's hair. "Ready to get back on your feet again, soldier?"

"I..." Leo said, and he looked dangerously close to tears. "I'm not much beyond the shield, so I..."

Susan squeezed his hand, trying to give what little comfort she could. "You're good at a lot of things, not just being Captain America," she said. "You're good at photography and writing. You're good at listening and making me smile even when I've been crying. You make plans and Kes has never beaten you at chess and I..."

She stopped, looking down at the floor. She couldn't fight off the tears. How could Leo not see how amazing he was? She loved him more than anyone she'd ever met.

"Suzie," he said, and she heard him swallow. "I don't deserve-"

"You do," Susan said, looking up angrily from her tears. "And don't call me that."

Leo laughed, finally losing the bitterness that clung to him since he'd been rescued. His breath hitched, but he smiled at her. "Still a crybaby," he said, gripping her hand tighter.

"You promised," she said before she could stop herself. "You said you'd be Captain America and save the world."

"I did, didn't I?" Leo said, closing his eyes. "I... haven't been very good at keeping that promise."

Susan shook her head. "We'll all help," she said, looking to Cap who nodded. "So please..."

"Alright," Leo said, barely above a whisper. "I'll be down in the gym in a bit. Just... give me some time."

"Of course," Susan said, wiping her eyes. "Do you need-"

"I can walk," Leo said tightly.

"Right," Susan said, biting her lip.

"Come on," Cap said, his hand on her shoulder, then he looked to Leo. "We'll meet you down there when you're ready."

Cap led her out, and she took hold of his hand before she could think better of it. Cap smiled reassuringly and squeezed her hand. "Come on, kid," he said softly. "Let's give him some space."

"I..." Susan said, looking back at the door to the kitchen.

"He'll get better," Cap said. "He's got you and Kestrel to help him."

"Yeah," Susan said, resolving to help the twins however she could.

"Don't think I'll go easy on you if he comes in," Cap teased, and she wondered if she was ever going to be able to stop blushing. She called the armor, since that would at least hide her reddened cheeks.

* * *

Kes's pillow was soaked, but she didn't care. All she cared about was staying silent because she couldn't cry in front of the Skrulls - not that she had to worry about them right now since Susan...

Susan.

A new sob tore at her chest. She had to be silent or Leo or Susan would hear, and that was the last thing she wanted. If they heard, they would ask why she was crying, and she couldn't-

Kes jumped at the feeling of a hand in her hair,looking up to see the AI of her ancestor, Tony Stark. She hugged her pillow to her chest defensively. "What do you want?" she asked through a sniffle.

"Lots of things, sweetheart," Tony said... how weird was it that she was talking to a copy of her five-hundred-year-old great-grandfather? "But at the moment, I'll settle for the reason my great-great granddaughter is crying."

"You're not even real," she said, trying to wipe away the tears. "And you're not supposed to..."

"I'm real enough," Tony said, opening his arms. "Come here, sweetpea."

She hesitated for a moment, then threw herself into Tony's arms. Even if he was a computer program, his hugs were warm and all-encompassing. "Shh, honey, I've got you. It's okay, gumdrop," he said, and she couldn't help but laugh at the names Tony came up with.

She cried onto his shoulder, not caring if he was an AI or her however-many-great-grand-father in the flesh. It was her code, but she had never imaged how _warm_ Tony was. 

When her tears finally dried, she focused on the feel of Tony's fingers running through her hair. "You're just code..."

"Yup," Tony said, his voice gentle in her ear. "But let's face it, honey bee, I'm more complicated than most codes, even if I was written 500 years ago."

It was different from JARVIS or FRIDAY. They could take bodies on occasion, but they weren't solid and they'd both expressed a preference to stay that way despite numerous offers of a robotic form. Her code had been experimental at best, but she had never imagined it would work so well. "I need... I need to look at your code, see what I did right."

"It's read only now. Cap's too. You need our express permission to make changes. Not that we don't trust you, buttercup, but-"

"I'm glad," Kes said. She'd hated having to work on Steve Rogers's code like she did. Even JARVIS and FRIDAY hadn't had their code altered by anyone but themselves for the past hundred years. "I didn't... I'm sorry. I never should have-"

"Shh, princess. We know. We don't blame you for what happened," Tony said. 

"Not a princess," Kes said indignantly as she rubbed her eyes.

"You are most definitely my little princess," Tony said with a ridiculous smirk. "Little Bear had to go through at least five different castles to find you."

"...I don't want to know what you're talking about."

"Kids these days. No appreciation of the classics," Tony muttered, letting her pull away. "Now, tell Grampa Tony what's wrong."

She tensed. She'd hoped he would let it go.

"Come on, princess. Girl talk. I'll even let you paint my nails while we chat."

"You're ridiculous," she said, not mentioning the only times she'd even had painted nails was when Susan occasionally dragged her out. 

"Yeah, you get that from Pepper's side of your DNA," Tony said with a snort. "But don't think I don't know a Stark Deflection when I see it. I patented them."

Kes hesitated, looking around. It was only her and Tony in the room she shared with Susan, and the door locked when Tony noticed her looking. "What's up, princess? Don't keep me hanging."

She was surprised when his code popped up in front of her, and she looked up at him before touching it. At his nod, she took a closer look. She couldn't help the small laugh when she realized the code he unlocked for her was his fingernail colors.

She leaned against him, absently toying with different shades of pink. "I missed Susan," she said finally, her breath hitching. "I... I really just wanted to see her again. Thinking of her was the reason I could deal with everything. And now..."

"She's here," Tony reminded her.

"I've always known she liked Leo," Kes said, shaking her head. "She's had a thing for him ever since... I know that. But he's never looked at her like that before. And now-"

"Now he's looking." Tony wiped away fresh tears from her eyes, unbothered by the hideous shade of fuchsia on his nails. "You and Susan..."

"I've always liked girls," she said, hugging her pillow against her. "Susan knows that. She's just... not interested in me." And that was okay. Or it was okay, as long as it wasn't _Leo_ and he didn't look back at her. But now... "It's stupid, because after everything that happened, I'm crying over a _girl_. But I can't..."

"Hold that thought, princess." Tony looked blank for a few moments, and Kes wondered if he was talking to Cap. "Okay, I'll be right back. Do _not_ tell Cap about this."

He disappeared then, but his code was still up for her to play with. She hugged her pillow tighter, then set about coding purple stripes onto his fingers. 

To her surprise, her door opened a few minutes later, rather than Tony reappearing. He held something behind his back and shut the door, like he was afraid of being caught. "We need to talk about your taste, kiddo," he said. "Stripes? Really?"

She changed it to polka dots rather than answer. He glanced at his free hand. "Better," he said, then sat down beside her again. "Now remember, no telling Cap about this. I'll get in massive amounts of trouble and you won't get anymore."

"Any more what?"

"Tada!" Tony said, presenting her with a bowl of...

"Where in the world did you get ice cream?" she asked, accepting it numbly. Ice cream was far from something she expected Susan's make-shift base of operations to have. They were in the middle of no where, and for good reason. 

"Not through Cap-approved means," Tony said, winking at her. "Leave an old AI with his secrets. Now, eat your ice cream before it melts."

She automatically raised the spoon to her lips, the taste of strawberry soothing something she couldn't quite name in her chest. 

"There. Nothing better for heartbreak than ice cream."

"I'm not heartbroken," Kes said.

"Oh?" Tony said. He reached out for the bowl. "I guess the ice cream isn't needed then if-"

She held the bowl against her, refusing to give the ice cream up. Tony held up his hands in surrender, and just for that she turned the polka dots into flowers.

"So, Leon is looking back now?" Tony asked her.

She bit off more of the ice cream, her eyes downcast. Leo acted like he was seeing Susan for the first time. And Susan...

"I must be terrible," she said quietly. "I should just want them to be happy, but I'm jealous of my own brother. They hurt him more, so I shouldn't want..."

"That doesn't make you a terrible person, princess," Tony said, pulling her back into a hug. "That just makes you human."

Kes closed her eyes as they threatened to fill again. "I know... I've always known... but why does it _hurt_ so much?"

"Shh, princess. It'll get better," Tony said. "There's plenty of other girls in the sea. Probably a few I haven't dated even."

"I don't want other girls, I want..." Kes said, breaking off.

"Shh," Tony said again. "It'll get better."

She cried again and her ice cream was melting, but Tony held her tightly. Her heart was still breaking, but she felt better. Maybe having AI of her dead ancestors around wasn't such a bad thing after all.

* * *

It was almost two weeks since they'd rescued the twins, and though he was an AI, Steve felt _tired_. Tony didn't look any better, though he'd been happier once Steve had authorized a mission for Susan to get more supplies. Tony liked being active, and he knew how taxing waiting wore on both them.

Still, the twins seemed to be settling in, and they had gotten more leads on the Skrulls' movements. Steve was debating if they had enough to take this to the resistance or if they still needed more when Tony appeared beside him. 

"Mission successful," Tony said, taking a seat next to Steve. "Rhodey's bringing in more supplies, no hiccups."

Steve nodded in thanks, using his foot to pull Tony's chair closer. "Susan is alright?"

"Fine and dandy," Tony said, a small frown on his face as he looked over the data Steve had open. At least, he hoped it was that and not-

"Sorry," Steve said, pulling away.

Tony sighed, then shifted his chair closer again. "We're all fine, cuddle bug. You're allowed to be a little clingy."

Steve hesitantly linked their hands together, kissing Tony's ring finger. "I just... I've lost so much, Tony," he said, and Tony squeezed his hand. "I can't lose you too."

"And you won't," Tony promised, fondness entering his eyes as he watched Steve. "But we do have a lot of free time now that the twins are taking over monitoring Susan..."

Steve laughed. Even as a computer-generated body, his husband was insatiable sometimes. Sex was... interesting as an AI. It wasn't an imperative like it had been when he'd had a real body, but it was still fun. "Then I have a request," Steve said as Tony straddled him.

"Oh?" Tony asked, eying Steve's neck like he was starving. "Ask away, beloved." 

Steve's breath hitched as Tony attacked his neck, trying to keep his mind on track. "Can you..."

"Can I what?" Tony said smugly, worrying a hickie in one of Steve's more sensitive spots. 

"Mm," Steve said, his hands wandering until he found Tony's ass.

"Gonna need you to use your words, Capcake," Tony said, his hands moving lower and-

Steve gripped Tony's wrist, because he wasn't going to be distracted this time. "Turn back into your older form?"

Tony stopped, pulling back much to Steve's dismay. "You want me to look _older_?" Tony asked, confused. "I mean, I know I aged gracefully, thanks, but-"

"I miss it," Steve said, knowing that he more or less hadn't aged while Tony had. Tony... wasn't always comfortable with the changes his body had gone through.

"You miss it?"

"Mm-hm," Steve said, kissing Tony's temple. "The grey that was right here," he said, moving to Tony's eyebrow. "The small scar that was right here. The wrinkles-" Steve kissed the corner of his eye, "-right here."

"You're a sap," Tony said, fidgeting.

"Nope," Steve said, his fingers tracing other scars Tony had gained over the years. "I just had a hell of a sexy silver fox for a husband."

"That was a turn-on?" Tony asked.

Steve stopped kissing him to peer up at Tony. "Are you saying there's a time you _weren't_ attractive?"

"Touché," Tony said, smirking. "But I thought I was _more_ attractive like this."

"Hm, but sometimes I like my silver fox," Steve said.

"Alright, alright," Tony said, laughing. He looked uncertain for a moment, then shimmered slightly.

There was the Tony of Steve's memories, the one he married and raised two children with. Steve was struck suddenly by how much he _loved_ this man, computer program or no. He took Tony's hand again, kissing the ring he gave Tony so many years ago. Each wrinkle and white hair only served to remind Steve of the reverence he still felt when remembering Tony was _his_. Neither of them had memories of how they died, but this was how Tony had looked the last morning Steve had woken up.

"Sap," Tony said again, but his voice broke on the word.

"Yours," Steve said, claiming Tony's mouth.

That was all that was said for a long time.

* * *

Kes was avoiding her. Susan wasn't sure why, but she was. Tony said to give her some time, but...

Susan stared at the faceplate of the Iron Man armor, biting her lip. This was supposed to be Kes's armor, not hers. She was supposed to take the War Machine armor, but that one hadn't been finished yet. She'd been in such a hurry when she left, it was all she could do to take the armor she and Kes had been working on finishing first. Kes was older, after all. She could have joined the young team of super heroes with Leo, but the armor hadn't been finished yet. And now...

Now the Iron Man armor was built for her height and body type, not Kes's. It would take some time to revert it, but it should be Kes's armor. Susan couldn't keep wearing it, no matter how long she'd been fighting in it or how much she loved the red and gold now.

She blinked, fighting back tears. She couldn't cry now, not with Kes and Leo here. She would just have to give the armor to Kes and find her old suit. They could probably find the parts somewhere, and Kes could finally join her brother in the fight. That was _good_.

So why did she feel so terrible about it?

Susan rubbed her eyes fiercely and stood up. She should go to Kes now and-

"Kes?" she asked, narrowly avoiding running into her best friend.

"Sorry," Kes said, not meeting Susan's eyes. "I was... I'll leave you alone here. It's-"

"No, wait," Susan said, taking Kes's hand. "I... I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" Kes asked uncertainly.

"Because it's your armor," Susan said. "You're the one who should be wearing it, not me. Iron Man is the Stark family legacy, so I can... I'll wait until we can-"

"Iron Man is yours."

The words stopped Susan, her mouth falling wide. "But-"

"You've been fighting in it these past two years," Kes said. "It's yours now."

"But-"

"You fly better than me now, yeah?" Kes continued, taking the helmet where Susan had left it. "I'm not... I couldn't fight or train while... so it's yours now. You deserve the title."

"But what about you?" Kes had wanted to become a hero as much as Leo had.

"I don't... After all I've done..." Kes started to say.

"That wasn't your fault," Susan said more forcefully than she'd intended. Kes merely looked away.

Susan felt like she was grasping at straws trying to find the words that would make Kes and Leo better. Was she failing them, for not finding them soon enough or...

No, she told herself firmly. Now wasn't the time for those feelings. She couldn't let them get in the way when Kes was here. Kes needed her now. Taking a deep breath, she took Kes's hand and squeezed it. "It's not your fault," Susan said again. "Even Cap doesn't blame you. If anything, it's my fault for not being able to find you sooner, so it's-"

Susan was stopped by the finger on her lips, but Kes still wasn't looking at her. If anything, Kes looked more hurt. "You did perfectly," Kes said, stepping back and looking at her hand like she'd burnt it.

"No, I didn't. Because both you and Leo are..."

"... I missed you," Kes said quietly as she put down the helmet, shocking Susan. "I missed you so much and I broke my promise."

"You didn't," Susan said firmly.

"I did," Kes said, reaching out again, this time to dry Susan's tears. She didn't even know when she'd started crying. "I promised. I said I'd protect you so you didn't have to cry anymore."

"But you did protect me," Susan said. "You kept the Skrulls from finding me, and you helped Cap realize everything was wrong, and you did all that while they were hurting you and Leo and-"

Kes was hugging her tightly before Susan knew she was moving. Susan automatically hugged her back. "Kes..."

Kes let out a sob, but then went still. Susan rubbed her back, wondering what was wrong. "Kes?"

"I missed you," Kes said simply, her voice trembling.

"I missed you too," Susan said, hugging Kes tighter. Kes felt so frail in her arms, and Susan knew the Skrulls hadn't been feeding the twins enough, but she hated feeling like Kes could break apart at any moment. Kes was the one who was always strong.

Susan would just have to be strong until Kes could be again. If it were anyone else, Susan didn't know if she could manage, but for Kestrel, Susan would try her hardest. "You should take the armor," Susan said. "You're the one-"

" _No_ ," Kes said, shuddering. "You're Iron Woman now. I'll... figure something else out, okay?"

"Okay," Susan said uncertainly. Then she pulled away, smiling up at Kes. "You could always be War Machine since I'm taking your armor."

"But I..."

"You promised to protect me, right? That's what War Machine does, protect Iron Woman."

Kes closed her eyes, and for a moment, Susan wondered if she was going to say no. Then she smiled weakly. "I'd like that," Kes said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"And War Machine and Iron Man, they're always best friends. That's what you told me," Susan continued. "So you have to be - Kes?"

Kes was crying now, harder than Susan had ever seen her. "Kes, what's wrong? Did I say the wrong thing?" Susan asked, worry taking over.

"Best friends," Kes said, her voice stronger and she was smiling despite the tears.

"Y-yeah," Susan said, wondering if she was missing something. But then, Kes took her hand and placed the Iron Man helmet in it. "The best," Susan promised, her hand tightening around the helmet. She wasn't going to let Kes be hurt again, not if she was going to be Iron Woman from now on.

Kes nodded, wiping away her tears. "The best," she agreed, bowing her head slightly and not meeting Susan's eyes. "So you tell me if Leo ever hurts you, because I'll fry him with War Machine's repulsors if he ever does."

Susan blushed. "I'm not - I mean, he doesn't -"

"He does," Kes said, smiling again. She looked softer in the garage's harsh lights, her smile gaining a gentle melancholy Susan sometimes saw, but never understood. "But even if he's my brother, no one gets to hurt you and get away with it, understand?"

"Yeah," Susan said, ducking her head.

She was going to make sure Kes smiled again, really smiled. That's what best friends did after all. "Want to help me with the repairs?" Susan asked, hoping her blush would go away if she changed the topic. She got enough teasing about Leo from Tony and Cap.

"Yeah," Kes said, squeezing Susan's hand again. "Just like old times."

* * *

Tony watched Kestrel and Susan through the monitors as they worked, glad the two girls were talking again. He had kept watch in case he needed to intervene with a quick excuse, but little Rhodey patched things up far better than anyone with 'Stark' in their name ever could. He smiled as Kes teased his Little Bear about Leon.

"They'll be okay," Tony murmured to himself.

"They will," Steve said, an arm sneaking around Tony's waist possessively. Tony fought back a wince.

Thankfully, Steve didn't appear to notice. This was _normal_ , Tony reminded himself. His husband had done this plenty of times when they'd been alive, and Tony had never minded it before. He'd welcomed it, even.

But the small, traitorous voice in his mind said that Steve used to be able to stand in the same room as him without _needing_ to crowd Tony's personal space.

Tony held the position for a moment before attempting to pull away. Steve didn't get the memo to let go, however. "They don't need us looking over their shoulder all the time," Tony said, snapping the camera off with a flick of his wrist. He pulled up a list of items they'd need for the winter as news of the elections ran on the bottom of the screen. "No rest for the wicked."

"Even computer programs could use a break, Tony," Steve said, gently tugging him away from the computer screen. 

"Actually, you'll find I don't, overclocked or otherwise. And I was very, very wicked, plum cake," Tony said, this time pulling away from Steve until the man let him go. 

"Tony-"

" _What_?" Tony snapped.

Steve took a step back in surprise, and Tony tried to rein in his temper. None of this was Steve's fault. "Are you alright?" Steve asked.

"Fine," Tony said, shaking his head as he scrolled through various shipment manifests. Now that they had the twins, they could try to get in touch with the resistance again, this time with more security for the-

"Tony..." Steve said, still confused.

Tony stopped cold, and this time when Steve stepped close, he welcomed the contact. "Get the kids in here."

"What happened?" Steve asked, snapping into command mode.

"The President of the Interstellar Alliance is officially a Skrull."

* * *

Leon felt the blood drain from his face, and he knew Susan and Kes were the same. The news caster didn't even flinch as they reported the new president, green ears and all, taking office. 

"How did this... _When_ did this happen?" Kes asked.

"Oh, you..." Susan said, then winced. "The elections have been going on for a while now. No one thought he had a chance though."

"Put enough Skrulls where people will listen and create enough fear, and voila! The universe's biggest asshole as president," Tony said. "We've seen it happen before, minus the green skin. Does no one read Santayana?"

Tony was right. People listened to fear. Leon still wasn't sure what to think of these AI versions of their ancestors, but Susan trusted them. Even Kes trusted them as she would JARVIS or FRIDAY, but they unnerved Leon more than he wanted to admit. 

Or maybe it was just meeting the original Captain America and seeing all the ways he didn't quite measure up.

The news continued to report the inauguration, and Leon felt even more detached from reality. Reality wasn't something he understood anymore, not when AIs were the only comfort they had while someone who was the head of the same race that had tortured him and Kes for the past two years was elected President. 

"Unfortunately, make a society fearful enough and they'll elect a monster," Captain America agreed with a sigh. "I just wish people would learn."

Leon ducked his head as Cap spoke, still not able to meet the AI's eyes. Tony was easier to look at. While the history books may have left out certain facts about the heroes, the Stark-Rogers family history said plenty about Tony Stark's faults. He was more... human, if one could call an AI that. 

He knew what he was supposed to say. He was supposed to be Cap, and be optimistic. He was supposed to have a plan. He couldn't force the words out though, not when Cap was here. Not while the man he'd seen _personally_ observing their torture was talking on screen. He didn't have a plan, not for that. He couldn't...

"What can we do about it?" Kes asked angrily.

"Resist," Tony said glumly. "It's a long process though. I'm tracing the resistance again to see if we can make contact."

Susan flinched. Something must have happened that she hadn't told them. Before he could move closer to her, Cap put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. 

Not needed, Leon inched towards the edge of the group. He wasn't being useful or much of a leader right now. As the others started to make plans, he slipped out of the room. It was painful with his leg, but he could still leave the room unnoticed at least.

He made it to the bathroom before he threw up. 

Leon sat on the floor for a long while just breathing. Finally, he pushed himself up, wincing at the weight on his bad leg. He cleaned up as well as he could, then limped out...

...straight into a concerned Captain America. "Susan says you've been awfully quiet," he said, thankfully not bringing up Leon's stomach. 

"I'm always quiet, sir," Leon replied, which was true enough. Kes was the chatterbox. He was generally happy not saying anything so long as he didn't have anything to say. 

"Not this much," Captain America said. "And I'm pretty sure eye contact wasn't something you had issues with before either."

Leon only just managed to stifle the urge to hunch his shoulders. "Sorry, sir."

"There's nothing to apologize for," Cap said. "And you can call me Steve."

This time, Leon couldn't help flinching. 

Cap sighed, rubbing his forehead absently. "Tony was right. It's me, isn't it?"

"It's not-" Leon started to say, cutting himself off as he caught sight of Cap's sad smile. He looked down.

"We'll stop the Skrulls, I promise," Cap said, then more gently, "And we'll get that leg of yours fixed up too. It won't always hurt so much."

"I'm..." Leon said, keeping his eyes on the floor. He should be better than this, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything more. 

"Come, sit down," Cap said, gesturing to the bed as he sat down himself. When Leon didn't move, Cap patted the spot next to him. 

Gingerly, Leon sat down, if only because disobeying Cap's order felt wrong. He flexed his foot, sucking in a breath as he moved it more than he should.

"Hey, take it easy," Cap said, no longer next to Leon, but kneeling in front of him. Leon froze as Cap started to massage the swollen muscles. "You're pushing it too much."

"You don't have to-" Leon said, not quite able to bring himself to say 'massage'. A massage by Captain America.

He flushed, but looking down was no longer an option. Kes only liked girls, but Leon had always been more flexible when it came to genders and Cap... Well, the original Captain America _did_ live up to the legend. And his posters. Oh, God, this was so _wrong_ in ways that Kes would laugh at him for. Awkward didn't even begin to cover it, slightly removed ancestor or not.

"So," Captain America - not Cap, because that was too personal right now - said, not stopping the massage. In fact, he looked amused by Leon's flush, which only made the embarrassment worse. "Being attracted to men is nothing to be ashamed of."

"Bi," Leon corrected quietly. "And it's not... People don't care about that now."

"You know your history," Captain America said approvingly. "At least humanity has come that far. So if it's not that, why are you so quiet lately?"

"I lost the shield," Leon admitted, blood draining from his face as he finally said it out loud.

But Cap didn't stop his movements. Leon expected more of a reaction, and he couldn't help the words that tumbled out after that. "I know that makes... I'm sorry, sir. I shouldn't have -"

"Still nothing to apologize for," Cap said. "I've lost it before too."

"You... what?"

"Sam and Tony apparently had a hell of a time finding it," Cap said. "They never quite forgave me for that. The shield usually finds its way home eventually."

"You're not angry?" Leon asked.

"Tony's the one you want to hide that fact from, not me," Cap said. "He's always had... a difficult relationship with the shield, due to it being made by his father. For me, the shield was sometimes a part of me, like an extension of myself. But other times, it was a responsibility. One I wasn't always strong enough... or _willing_ enough to carry."

"But you..." Leon said, trailing off. Cap being _unwilling_ to use the shield was hard to wrap his head around.

"One day, I'll hear you finish a sentence," Cap teased gently. "But I'm not what you expected, am I?" There was a self-depreciating smile on his lips. "I was never as interesting as the press liked to make out."

Leon wasn't sure how to respond. If this was the real Captain America, then....

"I'm human, just like you. Well, was human, I mean," Steve continued. "And I didn't always make the right choices, no matter what your history books say. Sometimes I had to compromise, doing things I knew wasn't right, but that would protect people in the long run. Other times... I wasn't very good at compromising when I should have. A lot of times, there was no right answer, just lots of wrong ones."

"But you were Captain America," Leon said, finding his voice. "You were always... I just made a mess of being Cap." He couldn't protect Kes or his parents. Even Susan had gotten hurt.

"You can't save everyone sometimes," Steve said. "No one can."

"Did you? Not save everyone?"

Cap's eyes darkened before he closed them, and Leon regretted asking. "No, I didn't save everyone. Sometimes, I think, if anyone _could_ , it'd be Tony, not me. Failing doesn't make you less Captain America. That's never been what the uniform was about."

Leon looked away. He wanted to ask, but couldn't find the words.

Cap seemed to know anyway. "What makes you Captain America isn't the shield or whatever flashy Stark-approved uniform you wear. It's helping the little guys who can't fight back themselves."

"What if I can't do that anymore?" Leon asked, his voice breaking.

"You giving up?" Cap asked.

He wanted to say something, to deny it. To shake his head and look Cap in the eye. But he couldn't, not when he was a burden to everyone. It wasn't just self-pity telling him that. He was dragging everyone down, and he didn't know how to keep afloat.

"When I was younger, I thought the only way to be useful was to be strong," Cap said, startling Leon out of his thoughts. "You were right. I became a super soldier because I needed to fight. But I... After James was born, I realized something. You don't _have_ to fight to be useful and important. You can do things in other ways that _do_ matter, sometimes more than fighting itself." 

"What are you saying?" Leon asked, bitterness returning. "It's okay to stop fighting? I can just give up and everything's fine?"

"I'm saying you don't need to fight, if you need time," Cap said, returning to the seat next to him. "Or if you want to put down the shield forever. You can just be Leon, and you'd still have a place here."

Leon felt pinpricks at the back of his eyes, but before he could blink back the tears, Cap pulled him into a hug. His breath caught in his throat. He was so tired of fighting, of the pain, of trying to live up to the legend that just held him down.

"Shh," Cap said. "It's okay. You'll be okay."

It was a long time before Leon stopped crying, but Cap didn't seem to mind.

* * *

Tony closed the data stream, rubbing his eyes. He didn't even have a physical body right now, but he was exhausted by everything going on. Kids. Even computer programs were exhausted dealing with kids.

He chuckled softly to himself, remembering Margaret and James keeping him up at night more times than he could count. Steve had always...

Steve.

Tony bit his lip, knowing he'd been losing his temper with Steve faster than he should be. He _knew_ it wasn't Steve's fault. But he couldn't... He needed the space. Steve was close to suffocating him, and Tony felt guilty just admitting it. But the only reason Steve wasn't here now was that Leon needed comforting and that...

Tony sighed, manipulating the headlines until the Skrull had a Hitler mustache. Not that anyone in this time remembered Hitler as anything more than a piece of history and a might-have-been. Humanity had come far among the stars, but they still fought against many of the same things.

The future. It was funny when he considered how far he'd come, yet how far he still had yet to fall. There was nothing...

Tony frowned, bringing up a camera stream and analyzing the data. Was that... There! Movement!

They were under attack.

Tony froze for a nanosecond, then jumped into action. Susan and Kes were tinkering with the armor and Leon and Steve were occupied. "Little Bear, suit up," he said over the coms. Then he cursed as a small army came into view of the radar. They were trying to blast down the door.

Steve - bless him - actually ran to the control room as Tony activated the hideout's defenses, Leon close behind him despite how that had to hurt his leg. Tony threw the camera window at them rather than explaining, helping Susan along with the armor as his fingers flew along the base's defense systems. 

"We can't hold them off here," Steve said, quickly assessing the attack. "Leon, get your sister and wait for Susan's signal. Tony and I can distract them enough to-"

"Oh, I think that's enough of that," someone said.

Tony didn't hesitate, throwing up a firewall around both him and Steve as he frantically typed. He didn't look over his shoulder, instead using the cameras to see Kor'la'vin holding a knife to Leon's throat. Steve materialized his shield, throwing it like it was an extension of his arm, but it passed through the Skrull, not even touching her. 

On the screen, Susan met the mob, her armor firing into the line of Skrull soldiers. Kes was on her way here, and he sent her an alert, praying she'd check her com unit. 

"Stop your processes, program, or I'll do more than break this boy's leg."

"I'm stopped," Tony said, holding his hands up in submission, though he kept the firewall running. She didn't seem to mind that, not looking up from the screen she was using to monitor the computer's activity. 

"Where is the other twin?" Kor'la'vin asked, her knife pricking at Leon's neck. 

"Now, see, to tell you that, I'd have to start some of my processes up again," Tony said as Steve moved to his side.

"No matter," Kor'la'vin said. "I will find her, and that little brat in the Iron Man armor won't last. But you... The original Iron Man. You could work for us."

"Oh, yeah?" Tony said as if considering. "What would be in it for me?"

" _Tony_ ," Steve said, taking a step away from him. For a moment, Tony felt betrayed. Then he looked at Steve, really _looked_. There was nothing about Steve's face to give him away, but the hand furthest from Kor'la'vin was tapping. It was a matter of microseconds to translate the Morse code. S-T-A-L-L.

Forcing his heart out of his throat, Tony leaned back against the desk. "Come on, darling. You know I work for the highest bidder. I want my autonomy and access to my own suit."

"That could be arranged," Kor'la'vin said, though she looked suspicious. "I wasn't aware a hero would change sides so quickly."

"Yeah, there's a lot the history books left out," Tony said.

"Tony, you wouldn't dare-"

"And Steve," Tony interrupted. "I want him. I'll fix his memories -" Steve lunged but went through Tony. Cap had turned himself insubstantial, and Tony forced the coding on his face to act unsurprised, like he'd done it himself.

The look of betrayal in Leon's eyes cut him, but that Tony was used to. "Sorry, kiddo. But the memory banks here are so _slow_. I need a bigger computer to play in."

"I won't let you take my memories away," Steve snarled. "Tony, if you do this, we're through."

"You say that like you thought I wouldn't take your memories of saying that regardless," Tony said.

"Such wedded bliss," Kor'la'vin said, watching with interest. "Wipe his memories now, and I'll consider it. And remember, I'm watching your codes for any tricks you might pull."

He hated it when people called his bluff. This was why he preferred to threaten and stall rather than bluff. Tony turned to Steve, who for one second dropped the act, long enough to show Tony the _trust_ in his eyes.

It was near enough to leave Tony breathless, circuitry for lungs or not. "You wouldn't dare," Steve spat, but he nodded a fraction, his codes wide open for Tony to sort through. Like Steve was - _Fuck_ he was actually going to let him -

The shot surprised all of them, and the knife Kor'la'vin was holding fell to the floor, followed shortly by her body. There was a bullet hole in the middle of her forehead. 

Tony tore his eyes away from Steve to see Kestrel standing in the doorway, the gun still in her trembling hands. 

Leon limped over to Kestrel, hugging her tightly as she dropped the gun. Tony scanned the body for other traps but found nothing but a teleporter on her. She was definitely dead this time, and after all she'd done to Steve and his ducklings, Tony was fiercely glad. 

Steve came over, but Tony flinched away from him. "Tony-"

"You were just going to _let_ me... We are not talking about this now," Tony said, barely containing his fury.

Steve was hurt, the pain on his face so honest that Tony wanted to punch those perfect teeth. "You're angry because I trusted you?" he asked.

"Stay away from Cap!" Leon said, the gun in his hand. It was aimed right at Tony's power crystal. Tony paid it no mind, going back to supporting Susan on the field.

"Leon, stand down," Steve ordered, turning towards the kid and letting it drop for now. "Tony was stalling. I asked him to."

Leon wavered, looking at Kestrel who was too shell-shocked to follow the computerized drama. Tony didn't blame her. He did need her to snap out of it though. "Hey there, Little Bird. Gonna need you on Rhodey support."

"Right," Kestrel said, her hands trembling as she walked over to the controls. She didn't look at the body, and Tony wished he could blink it away. 

"You're angry," Steve said softly, as he helped a gun-less Leon to a nearby chair. 

"Not the time, honey," Tony said, checking on his cub scout. Rhodey was hanging in there, but even with support she wasn't going to make it like this.

Steve's mouth was a firm line, but he knew better than to disagree. Instead, he walked over to the controls and started scanning the data after giving Leon's shoulder a squeeze. "How are things out there, Susan?"

"There's too many of them, Cap," Susan replied, her voice strained. "I can't - You have to get Kes and Leo out of there."

"We're not leaving you!" Kes said, looking to Tony for assurance.

There was none he could give her, unfortunately. But there was something he could do, and Steve was going to be very, _very_ angry at him for it.

Tony ran the start-up programs for his secret project. He couldn't remote control it fully enough to fight with the processing power here, but if he could call it here, it could pick up his data crystal. Then he could have a direct connection to it and make sure any viruses didn't corrupt Steve. He stayed well away from his husband, setting a timer that he hoped would be unnecessary, but he knew that hope was futile.

"Fly above them and drop a few charges," Steve said into the com.

"I need - I should be out there-" Kes said.

"You don't have a suit," Leon told her, taking her hand. He still seemed wary of Tony, but the gun was on the table. Neither of the twins were close enough to his crystal to make a difference, so he called the suit to come.

It was a moment before any of them noticed. Stealth technology had come a long way since his time, and the new suit was nearly silent. But Steve noticed the presence beside him and looked up. "What-"

"Your way out," Tony said before sending the command to take out his data crystal.

He blinked out of existence. If Tony had been aware, he would have been unnerved, he was sure, but the next thing he knew the suit was closing over his data crystal and locking into place. A successful reboot.

"The suit here-" Kestrel was saying.

"Sorry, princess, but this suit's purely automated. No room for a human in the casing. Didn't have time to fix one up for you." It was a shock hearing his voice in the suit after so long, but some part of him felt _home_ like not even Steve could make him feel.

"Tony, what are you doing?" Steve asked, deceptively calm. Tony could see the anger building behind his eyes, and he couldn't fault the optical data projection. It was just as good as looking at the real Steve.

Which made this that much harder to do, if Tony were being honest, but he'd never had any particular reason to be honest with anyone, much less himself. "Security back up."

"What do you-" Leon started.

" _Tony_ ," Steve said, every ounce the commander. "Don't you dare, Avenger. We can-"

Steve had been reaching for the armor, shock now written on his face as his hand went through rather than circling around the armor's wrist. "Sorry, Cap," Tony said, giving a sloppy salute with the suit. "It'll wear off in about four minutes and twenty-three seconds."

The suit took off. He probably could have heard what Kestrel was saying if he'd been connected to the base's defense systems, but he didn't dare, not after what had happened to JARVIS. Instead, he piloted the suit out of the hangar, flying up and feeling pure _joy_ at flying again. 

The battlefield was a nightmare, but Tony had seen worse before. He spotted Little Rhodey about to be overwhelmed, so he flew right into the fray, blasting Skrulls with a vengeance. 

"Kes?" Rhodey asked, hopeful.

"Sorry, kiddo. You've just got an old hologram for backup," Tony said, cutting down a large group with his laser. 

"But that's-"

"I'll disconnect if there's any virus," Tony lied. "You get back to the twins. You've got to get them out of here."

"Copy that," she said, relieved. "Can you hold them off?"

"No problemo, Little Bear. Just rescue your friends and go to the rendezvous point C."

"Be careful," Rhodey said, but did as he'd asked.

With Rhodey off the battlefield, Tony could go on full offensive without needing to worry about pilot safety. He had a few guns in his arsenal that Big Rhodey had expressly forbidden him from using while he'd been human. It mowed down a row of Skrulls, and if he'd had a body, he'd have smiled grimly.

"Tony," Steve said, breaking through the block, probably with Kestrel's help. Tony would have sighed, but that girl did make him proud of his genes.

"Not now, Cap," he said, diving through the Skrulls with a speed no human pilot could have survived.

"Tony, the kids are safe. You don't have to do this."

The pleading in Steve's voice nearly broke his resolve. He may not have actually had a heart, but it felt like it was breaking. "No can do, Cap. This is a one-way trip and it's the only way they'll have time. You know it's true."

Steve was silent on the end of the line, and Tony knew he couldn't argue with that. "This is right, Steve, and you know it," Tony said, setting the bomb that would level the battlefield and give the kids time to get out.

Tony wanted to hear Steve's voice one last time. He wanted a lot of things, but he was running out of time. "Get the kids out safe. They're what's important."

" _Tony_ ," Steve said, his voice full of grief.

"I love you," Tony said as the Skrulls tried to tear apart the armor. 

Before the bomb went off, he replayed the memory of Steve at the altar in his dress uniform, smiling though his eyes were misty as he looked at Tony. The ticking counter of the bomb was was on silent, so the last thing Tony heard was Steve’s voice, soft and pleased, saying "I do."

* * *

Tony woke up, surprised by the lack of pain that usually accompanied such self-sacrificial stunts. Then he remembered he didn't have a body. Unexpected plus, that. Having a physical body was definitely overrated.

"He should be here," Kestrel said, her voice fragmented until Tony fixed the audio codes. "I don't know why -"

"It's not your fault," Steve said. _Steve_. "The crystal was too damaged in the explosion."

"Give it one more try," Little Rhodey said, and Tony could hear the tears in her voice. "You can do it, Kes. You can code anything!"

"Suzie," Leon said, and Tony could hear how choked his voice was. "Kes can't perform miracles. The crystal-"

"We've restored it!" Rhodey said. "Kes can fix the corrupted data. We're not giving up."

"Susan, stand down," Steve said, with none of the grief Tony expected to hear in his voice. "It's okay. We can let him go."

"I don't take orders from _you_ ," Susan said, with a shocking amount of anger. "Now try again, Kes."

He just needed a body, right? A hologram one. He saw the snag in the code that kept him from manifesting and righted it before Kestrel could see it. 

He shimmered into existence, opening his 'eyes' to see the whole crew together. It was at C-base, which Tony had been stocking and repairing for just such an emergency, but it looked much better than the last time he'd seen it. Steve stood apart from the kids, a bland smile on his face.

"Good job, princess," Tony said to Kestrel, turning away from his husband for the moment.

"Tony!" Rhodey said, hugging him tightly. Kes was quick to follow, and he pat both of their heads awkwardly.

"What's our status?" Tony asked.

"We're still in hiding, sir," JARVIS said, and Tony felt a smile stretch painfully at the sound of his voice. "And there's still a Skrull as the President of the Interstellar Alliance, but people are more lenient to our cause. And might I say, welcome back, sir."

"JARVIS! Good to hear from you, old friend." Tony was resolutely not ignoring how Steve stayed on the other side of the room.

"I wasn't..." Kestrel said. "You are - is everything alright? There's no holes?"

Tony ran a quick diagnosis and found a couple, but they were an easy fix on his part. "Nope. You did a fantastic job putting me back together, Little Bird."

Kestrel and Rhodey finally let him go, Rhodey rubbing the tears from her eyes. She beamed up at him after that, taking Kestrel's hand and squeezing it gently. "I knew we'd get you back," she said. Then the anger returned to her face. "Now get Cap back to normal!"

"Normal?" Tony queried, fixing bits of code as he went. 

"I'm fine, Susan. Tony will like this better."

If that didn't set off warning bells, Tony never knew his husband at all.

"He's not," Leon said, and resentment filled his eyes. "Fix it."

"Okay, kiddo. Fixing things is what I'm good at," Tony said, finally looking over at Steve. His husband, who stayed a good distance away despite the fact that Tony had been gone for... five months? Wow. That was a while. Tony felt a pang of betrayal, and he scanned Steve for Skrull DNA, but came up with nothing but a hologram. Was he still that angry?

"Okay, ducklings. Thanks for restoring me, Little Bird, but I think I need some alone time with Cap."

Kestrel looked guilty, which wasn't a good sign, but she nodded. Rhodey gave him one more hug, then followed Leon out of the room.

Finally alone with Steve, Tony took a deep breath with all of his circuits. "Okay, so you're angry at me," Tony said, trying to figure Steve out. Even angry, Steve should have been _closer_. 

"I'm not angry," Steve said, and there was nothing in his body language to contradict his statement. Which just left Tony even more in the dark. 

"Okay, then what did you do to my husband?" Tony asked, feeling hurt in a way he couldn't quite explain, because Steve was over _there_ and not by Tony. 

"Right here," Steve said with a shrug, holding up his hand with the ring. "I still love you. That wasn't affected by the changes."

"What changes?" Tony asked, immediately suspicious. 

"The ones that you wanted," Steve said, the first sign of frustration showing in his shoulders. "Everyone's just making a giant fuss."

"What. Changes," Tony asked again, marching up to Steve and pressing on his chest. "Because you are _not_ the man I married."

"No, I'm just a hologram of him," Steve said dryly.

"Not what I meant," Tony hissed, remembering how angry he still was at Steve for letting Tony mess with his memories. It added fuel to the fire, and Tony had a sneaking suspicion that the sick feeling in his gut would take over if he didn't hold on to that fury.

"I'm still the same me," Steve said, leaning against the wall casually. 

"No, you're not," Tony said, because Steve was two feet away and not holding him. He swallowed back bile, then pulled the ring off his finger.

His hand felt naked without it, even though Tony knew it was just a piece of code rather than the real thing. He never took it off, not even when he'd still been alive and in the suit. Before he could second guess himself, he threw the ring at Steve, ignoring how the man flinched as he caught it. "Let me know when my husband is back," he said, turning to go find Kestrel and find out for himself what was going on.

He'd barely taken a step before there was a hand around his arm, keeping him in place. "Let me go," Tony said, tugging his arm away.

"Look, Tony-"

"No, I'm not-" Tony was about to phase his arm out of existence to get away, but Steve was holding his source code open for Tony to look through. 

"I'm still me," Steve said, frustrated. "Well, as much of me as a hologram can be."

Steve was right, everything was the same except -

Tony pushed Steve away, his vision tunneling. "Change back," he said as his eyes felt wet.

"I thought you'd like the changes," Steve muttered, then shook his head. "It's not that big a deal, Tony."

"Not a-" Tony said, his hands balling into fists. "You changed your _personality code_ , you bastard."

"You were right. I was being too clingy," Steve said. "I asked Kestrel to make a few changes. I'll stay out of your space now unless you want me there."

"Change it back."

"Tony-"

" _Change it back_ ," Tony repeated. 

"Why are you making so much of a fuss over this?" Steve asked, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. "I didn't want to feel like that anymore, so we made a few changes."

"So you what - take the emotional super-serum and quit?" Tony asked. "That's not what I wanted, Steve."

"Well, you were _gone_. I made the decision," Steve said with an air of finality. He held out the ring for Tony to take. "I'm still me in all the ways that matter."

"You gave up," Tony said flatly.

"You always complain when I'm 'sulking'. Now you don't have to worry about that anymore. The world never needed a moping Captain America."

"For fuck's sake, I didn't marry you because you were a perfect soldier!" Tony said.

"Tony-"

" _No_ ," Tony said, stepping back. "The man I married had _flaws_. And sometimes those flaws annoyed the hell out of me, but that didn't mean I wanted them _erased_."

"Well, I did want them erased and it's done now," Steve said, his anger showing as he flung his hands out. "You were _gone_. You pulled that stupid lone wolf act and blew yourself up."

"It was the only way to save the kids," Tony said.

"You don't know that," Steve said. "You didn't even tell me about your plan, preferring to turn off my tangibility without my permission!"

"Because you would have stopped me!" Tony yelled.

"You don't know that," Steve said again, his voice a low growl. "We could have found a different solution."

"And what if there wasn't one?"

They stared at each other for what felt like eternity. Then Tony looked away. He hated being the first to break, but he couldn't... "Just keep the ring," Tony said, forcing himself not to code another one on his finger.

"Tony-"

"No, you're right," Tony said, still not meeting Steve's eyes. "I fucked up. That's what I do best, after all. That's who I am. Happy now?"

"That's not what I wanted," Steve said.

"That _is_ what you wanted," Tony said, turning away. "You married a screw-up who only compounds his mistakes rather than make up for them. But I'm keeping my flaws. Giving them up the easy way is just so fucked up and-"

Tony choked on the words. He closed his eyes, willing the tears to go away because he was nothing but a computer code and computer codes didn't cry. "I've never been perfect. But that's who I am. If you're going to be perfect, I can't compete with that. I never could, so just keep the ring. I never deserved the man who gave it to me back when he still made mistakes."

"Tony..."

Tony hunched over at the way Steve said his name, but he couldn't face what Steve had done to himself. He'd been stupid, always stupid, and now he'd turned his world into a perfect program. Steve was right. Tony had pushed him away and now he'd lost...

"You'd really rather..." Steve started to say, then stopped. "I don't like that part of me any more than you do."

"That isn't the point."

Steve sighed, and Tony could picture him rubbing his forehead then mussing his hair. The image was so clear it was _painful_ , and his chest hurt in ways it hadn't since he got rid of the arc reactor. 

Finally, Tony felt arms wrap around his middle. He was too tired to pull away, instead closing his eyes. His breath hitched as he felt a tear roll down his cheek. Fuck, he couldn't...

"Kestrel refused to change the code without a switch to revert back," Steve said, rocking them softly. Tony only just kept the hope at Steve's words from turning around to face him. "I'm still angry with you, ya know."

"Steve..."

"I know, sweetheart. Just warning you." His knees nearly buckled at the endearment, but Steve held them up. "If you do that again-"

"I'm sorry," Tony said, shaking his head as he hiccuped. "I was stupid and... _Steve_."

"Shh, baby. I've got you."

Tony felt it when Steve undid the code, and the first sob broke free as Steve's arms tightened around him. "I'm _sorry_ ," Tony said again. "Honey, I'm so-"

The mouth that claimed his was everything Tony had been missing since he woke up again, and this time his knees did fail him. Steve lowered them both to the floor, keeping Tony in his lap as the kiss broke.

"Shh," Steve said, kissing the tears Tony couldn't stop with a desperation that felt _real_ , for all that they were just computer programs. 

"Shh," Steve said again between kisses. His voice broke as he spoke. "I'm sorry too. God, _Tony_. I'm sorry."

"The ring!" Tony said, trying to turn.

Tony felt the ring slip onto his finger and the broken part of him mended. He laughed, more than a little hysterical. "The kids-"

"Yeah," Steve said softly, his arms tightening around Tony so much it hurt. "You can come out now. We're not getting divorced."

Three heads peeked around the door shamefully, and Tony tried to wipe away the flowing tears, but Steve caught his hand and kissed it.

"I'm sorry," Kestrel said as they came into the room properly. "I shouldn't have-"

"Little Bird, that's _entirely_ his fault and not yours," Tony said, because if Steve was still angry, Tony certainly was as well, but they could talk about all of that later.

"Things are okay then?" Susan asked hesitantly. She had Leon's arm around her waist, and fuck, he'd missed them getting together and-

"Things are-" Tony started, then stopped. "Steve?"

"Things are okay," Steve said, slightly breathless in a way that Tony thought Steve must have been crying too.

"Cap, if you make him cry again..." Susan said threateningly.

And Tony laughed, because here he was on the ground with his holographic husband 500 years in the future adopting a group of heroic teenagers. "We're okay," Tony said, smiling despite the fact he hadn't managed to stop crying. "Don't worry, Rhodey, we're... Oh, come _here_ all of you." 

He got an armful of two teenage girls, and Leon joined them after a nod from Steve, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

Steve watched the cameras, Tony curled up against his side. They were both alert and looking for danger, but Tony preferred to pretend he was also glancing through news reports. His left hand was tapping intently against Steve's thigh, however, so he knew his husband was still tense. 

They were working on things in their own way, and there were always snags, but Steve counted himself the luckiest hologram alive as he kissed Tony's temple, rubbing soothing circles into his back. They could only watch from afar right now, but Steve was confident the kids would be okay.

Susan fidgeted on screen, tensing her hands into balls. "It'll be fine," Tony told her before Steve could say anything, proving he was paying more attention to the cameras. "You've got back-up this time, Rhodey."

"Yeah," Susan said, looking over at the gunmetal grey armor that was piloted by Kes, who gave her a cheeky salute. They both had the helmets off, though that could change within seconds should a fight start. "It's just last time..."

"This time will be different," Leon told her. He was wearing the braces that Tony and Susan had made for him, and he held the energy shield the two of them and Kestrel collaborated on. 

"We have incoming," Steve said, tracing the inside of Tony's wrist. He brought Tony's hand up and kissed the palm, feeling Tony sigh next to him. 

"So you're the crazy kids who took out the Skrull army."

Tony refocused the camera to show an older woman with a headscarf dressed in black. She was flanked by a dark-skinned man in his mid-twenties and a girl closer to the kid's ages with dark curly hair and glowing eyes. The resistance. 

"Um, hi," Susan said awkwardly, gaining a soft laugh from Tony. "We're, uh..."

"We're Captain America, Iron Woman, and War Machine," Leon said, stepping forward. 

"Oh, they're all hot," the girl with glowing eyes said. "I told you this was a good idea." 

Susan flushed and stepped closer to Leon possessively. Leon, for his part, hid a small smile behind a cough, but Steve saw him lean against the armor in return. 

"Aw, can't break up Iron Woman and Cap, that's too _classic_ ," the girl with glowing eyes said. "But War Machine-"

"You can flirt later, Cloud," the older woman said. "Right now, we want to welcome you kids to the resistance."

Kestrel stepped forward, taking the woman's hand. "The Avengers are up for the fight," she said.

"The Avengers, huh?" the man said, speaking for the first time. "Those are pretty tall boots to fill."

"Yeah," Susan said, smiling softly. "But someone's gotta fight."

"That's right, kiddo," Tony said proudly.

"You've already proved it to us," Steve added, watching the three of them glow under the praise. 

The kids were going to make it. The future was bleak, but they could handle it. Steve and Tony would be there for them when they needed it. It was going to be alright.

They were the new Avengers, after all. Home had never been so welcoming.

~FIN~

**Author's Note:**

> Mem: So that's the fic! Thanks for the patience for everyone who had been waiting on this one. It's finally done.
> 
> You can find me at tumblr over here: http://memorydragon.tumblr.com/
> 
> Quote of the fic:
> 
> "We stand between the candle and the star, between the darkness and the light."  
> -Delenn, _Babylon 5_


End file.
